Israel Sends Money for Palestinian Aid

Israeli officials stated that the country is willing to help the economically impoverished Palestinian population by releasing a part of the 50 million dollars collected monthly from Palestinian customs fees and taxes, as humanitarian aid that will go into relief programs.

According to the Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev, in a phone interview from Jerusalem: "Israel wants to be part of this effort. The money that we're holding up, instead of sitting in escrow, can be targeted for direct humanitarian programs without reaching Hamas.''

The sudden decision follows an agreement signed by the US, United Nations, the European Union and Russia on May 9th to avoid the Hamas-led government and still help the residents of the West bank and Gaza through what the Quartet called a "temporary international mechanism".

The measure was an emergency one since a May 8th World Bank report stated that the territories controlled by the Palestinian Authority have already started showing signs of recession due to salary downsizes and commodity supply decline from Israel.

The latter imposed such measures in February after the January 25th Hamas win of legislative elections, since the latter is considered a terrorist organization.