Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammed Shtayyeh condemned settler’s incursions into Al-Aqsa mosque, and approved the fiscal year 2023 budget annex with a deficit of USD $360 million. 

The meeting addressed the ongoing arrests and deportations of worshippers in Al-Aqsa mosque during the Holy month of Ramadan. PM also condemned the execution of a young Palestinian doctor, Mohammed al-Usaibi, from the town of Houra, and a young Palestinian, Muhammad Pradi from the town of Surif, and the killing of Muhammad al-Hallak and Mohamed Abubakar in the city of Nablus this morning, Dr. Shtayyeh sent his heartfelt condolences to their families. 

“What is happening at Al-Aqsa Mosque is a violation of the sanctity of the Holy sites, pushing worshippers to evacuate Al-Aqsa by intimidating and restricting people's entry and exit through checkpoints” the Prime Minister said in his statement at the opening of the Cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, demanding an end to this arbitrariness practiced against Palestinians.

The cabinet approved the budget annex for the fiscal year 2023 and submitted it to President Mahmoud Abbas for approval to be annexed to the Budget Law, which is a step that came after the Cabinet discussed the annexes to the Law on Emergency Budget and presented different possible scenarios for revenues and expenditures.

The budget, with a deficit of USD $360 million, was approved as a cash emergency budget and disbursements from the budget will be based on available cash flows from the Treasury, the Cabinet stated that when Israel’s deductions from Palestinian clearance revenue increased the budget deficit to $610 million.

Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh added that the government had to obtain loans from Banks in order to pay the salaries of the public workers for and April, given that the amount of monthly Israeli deductions from Palestinian tax revenues increased to 250 million shekels, coupled with the drop international funding to the budget. The Prime minister reiterated that while Israel’s deductions from the Palestinian tax revenues and decreasing donor funding are designed to put pressure on the Palestinian people and leadership, the latter will not trade politics for money.