Israel to grant 1,500 additional work permits to Palestinians to maintain calm in Gaza

Aug. 19 () –

The Israeli government will grant from this Sunday 1,500 additional work permits to Palestinians living in Gaza; a measure designed to preserve stability in the Strip after the end of hostilities with the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad in which Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that controls the enclave, refrained from participating in compliance with the ceasefire agreed last year with the Hebrew state.

These additional permits bring the total number of new concessions issued by Israel to 15,500, and this figure is expected to reach 20,000 in the coming months, if the West Bank population is counted, an unprecedented number that nearly triples the only 7,000 permits Israel was issuing around the middle of last year.

This decision has come from Israel’s military liaison office with the Palestinians, the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories or COGAT, and has the blessing of Defense Minister Benny Gantz, one of the prime movers behind this initiative.

“All measures concerning Gaza’s civilians,” COGAT assures in a statement reported by the Times of Israel, “depend on continued stability in the security situation in the enclave.”

There are currently about 130,000 West Bank Palestinians who have permits to work in Israel and in Israeli settlements in the West Bank.