The Undersecretary of the Palestinian Ministry of Health, Wael Al-Sheikh, said yesterday, Sunday, that the health situation faces a major shortage of medicines and medical supplies, and the ministry’s debt has approached 3 billion shekels (about 800 million dollars).
The Sheikh explained, in an interview on Palestine TV, that 120 types of medicine, including 20 cancer drugs, and 420 types of medical consumables, 170 of which are for the heart, eyes, and others, have a zero balance in the ministry’s warehouses.
This was considered a major problem that directly affects the health sector.
Al-Sheikh pointed out that the Ministry of Health’s indebtedness approached 3 billion shekels (about 800 million dollars), the largest part of which is to private and private hospitals.
He explained that this debt is cumulative over previous years, and the Ministry of Finance makes payments to cover the debt, but consumption is more than what is paid.
Due to the Israeli aggression that has continued for 15 months in the Gaza Strip, the financial revenues of the Palestinian government have deteriorated, due to the increase in Israeli deductions from Palestinian tax funds (clearance), which for decades have formed the scales of financial revenues.
While the Palestinian government relies on tax funds to provide most of the cash flow, since the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, Israel has deducted about 45% of the total clearance.
Clearance funds are taxes paid by Palestinians on goods imported from Israel or through Israeli border crossings, with a monthly average of $220 million.
The Palestinian government mainly uses clearing funds to pay the salaries of public employees, and they constitute 65% of the total financial revenues of the Palestinian Authority.
As of November 2023, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich decided to reserve an amount of 270 million shekels ($74 million) per month from the clearance funds, which is the amount that the Palestinian Authority transfers to its employees in Gaza, and to provide electricity from its power plant.
Thus, the total Israeli annual deduction from clearance funds – in addition to monthly deductions implemented by Israel against debts owed to Palestinian parties and fines – reaches $1.5 billion annually, equivalent to approximately 45% of the total clearance funds, and 25% of the total annual Palestinian budget.