Ramallah – Prime Minister’s Office - Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Dr. Mohammed Mustafa, discussed with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Hanke Bruins-Slot, the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the need for coordinating relief efforts to ensure the delivery of essential aid to Gaza. The two officials also discussed the necessity for urgent international intervention to release the Palestinian clearance funds withheld by Israel, stop all illegal deductions, and take further actions against the Israeli settlement and settler terrorism.

This came during a meeting in Ramallah with the Dutch Minister, in the presence of the Palestinian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Varsen Aghabekian, and the Representative of the Netherlands to the State of Palestine, Michel Rintenar.

Mustafa stressed that the Gaza Strip is facing a worsening humanitarian catastrophe, pointing out the need for urgent intervention from all parties to stop the offensive against our people in the Strip, stop the Israeli occupation’s planned ground invasion of the southern Gaza Strip’s city of Rafah, and open more crossings with the blockaded enclave to deliver urgent and essential relief and humanitarian aid into the Strip.

Additionally, the Prime Minister called for further actions and sanctions against Israeli settlement and the escalating Israeli settler terrorism in the West Bank, as well as severing it with Israeli military checkpoints and settlements, pointing out that this undermines the prospects for establishing the Palestinian state and poses a significant obstacle to peace.

“Israel obstructs every facet of our lives and deprives us of our financial resources," said Mustafa, further adding, “Israel has imposed sanctions on us by ordering additional deductions from the Palestinian clearance funds under the pretext that part of the money is designated for the Gaza Strip, the salaries of PA's employees and retirees, and the social allowances. This has rendered the government incapable of meeting its obligations.”

Mustafa further pointed out that a donors’ conference will be held before the end of this month in Brussels in order to mobilize financial, political and relief support, to confront the difficult financial, economic and political conditions that Israel imposes on the Palestinian people.

The Prime Minister also briefed the Dutch FM on the government's institutional reform agenda, which encompasses various initiatives aimed at enhancing transparency principles, streamlining processes, expediting service delivery, rationalizing expenditure, bolstering the independence of the judiciary, fostering partnerships with civil society, localizing medical services, and implementing other pertinent measures.

For her part, Bruins-Slot affirmed her commitment to exerting all efforts to ensure opening more crossings with the Gaza Strip to enhance relief and humanitarian efforts and to facilitate the entry of additional aid into the Strip. She emphasized the necessity for Israel to release the withheld Palestinian funds and her country's rejection of Israeli settlement expansion and settler terrorism, stressing the need to hold them accountable. Furthermore, she commended the government's efforts in strengthening relations and partnership with civil society.