Palestinian FM: Government urgently needs funding

Shafaq News- Baghdad

Palestinian Foreign Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shahin on Sunday warned that her government urgently needed funding amid severe financial pressure, as the United Nations said Israel was withholding approximately $6 billion in Palestinian clearance revenues.

Speaking at a press conference at Iraq's Foreign Ministry following the 52nd meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad, Shahin described the two-day gathering as successful, saying Palestine had featured in discussions throughout both days, including Gaza and the West Bank.

The Baghdad Declaration issued after the meeting called for the immediate release of Palestinian tax revenues withheld by Israel. A September UN report said the withheld funds had contributed to delayed public-sector salaries and disruptions to essential services, including health care and education.

Delegations, Shahin said, discussed the continuing genocide, killings, starvation and destruction in Gaza, alongside calls to end the violence despite the peace arrangements reached in Sharm el-Sheikh. Killings continued, the number of wounded was rising, humanitarian aid remained insufficient, and conditions in the territory were unsafe, she added.

Separately, UNICEF warned on October 16 that recent improvements in child nutrition in Gaza remained fragile following disruptions to commercial supplies, with approximately 800,000 children still displaced, many living in tents or unsafe buildings.

Turning to the West Bank, Shahin said the meeting addressed widespread Israeli settler attacks and settlement expansion, with several countries demanding an end to settlement activity. Jerusalem has received attention because of daily attacks on religious sites, particularly the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Discussions also addressed the compound's Islamic identity, Muslim and Christian places of worship in East Jerusalem, and efforts to change the city's cultural identity, she added.

Several delegations also discussed relocating embassies to Jerusalem. Shahin called such moves invalid and urged the countries concerned to reverse their decisions and apologize.

The minister said October 17 had been designated as a day to remember the genocide in Gaza. The Baghdad Declaration called for the date to be observed annually within the OIC, while the Arab League had previously adopted it as a remembrance day. Shahin linked the date to the October 17, 2023 explosion at Gaza's Al-Ahli Arab Hospital, saying more than 500 Palestinians were killed.