Palestinian Authority promises public workers 50% wage, commits to repayment following strike

Palestinian public sector workers are set to receive 50% of their wages on Thursday, the Palestinian Authority's finance ministry announced Tuesday. This comes months after critical service workers went on strike, having received only a fraction of their pay. The PA has promised a minimum payment of NIS 2000, the same amount that previously triggered hospital workers' strikes in April. Owed funds will be disbursed "when financial resources allow."

The Palestinian Authority began paying workers 80% of their salaries in 2022, a move that followed Israel's decision to withhold tax revenues. This deduction was implemented under a 2018 law allowing Jerusalem to offset funds equivalent to payments the PA makes to individuals designated as terrorists and their families under its "pay-for-slay" program. Last year, Palestinian public-sector employees faced significant delays, not receiving their May wages until July, and in September 2025, the PA confirmed workers would only receive 50% of their salaries.

Despite confirmations from the U.S. State Department and PA President Mahmoud Abbas that payments to terrorists and their families have continued, activists largely attribute the PA's financial crisis to Israel's policies. Palestinian writer Ilhab Hassan stated on social media that "Israel's policy is to push the Palestinian Authority toward collapse by withholding Palestinian funds and creating an unsustainable financial crisis." Hassan believes the objective is to "weaken the PA, trigger unrest across the West Bank, and then use the resulting instability as a pretext for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land."

An editorial by the Palestine Now Agency claimed the PA is losing between one and 1.5 billion shekels monthly, with the territory collecting only 10% of its normal revenues. The situation highlights the ongoing financial strain on the PA and its impact on public sector employees.

“

Israel's policy is to push the Palestinian Authority toward collapse by withholding Palestinian funds and creating an unsustainable financial crisis…The objective is clear: weaken the PA, trigger unrest across the West Bank, and then use the resulting instability as a pretext for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their land.