The Gaza offensive is speeding up Israel’s “annexation” of the Palestinian economy, say analysts, who argue it has been hobbled for decades by agreements that followed the Oslo peace accords, AFP reports.

Israel is tightening the noose on the Palestinian Authority, which rules parts of the West Bank, by withholding tax revenues it collects on its behalf, economist Adel Samara told AFP. She said that “technically speaking, there is no Palestinian economy under Israeli occupation — our economy has been effectively annexed by Israel’s”.

The Palestinian economy is largely governed by the 1994 Paris Protocol, which granted sole control over the territories’ borders to Israel, and with it the right to collect import duties and value-added tax for the Palestinian Authority. Israel has repeatedly leveraged this power to deprive the authority of much-needed revenues.

But the Gaza offensive has further tightened Israel’s grip, Samara said, with the bulk of customs duties withheld since Gaza’s rulers Hamas sparked the crisis with their October 7 attack on Israel.

“Without these funds, the Palestinian Authority struggles to pay the salaries of its civil servants and its running costs,” said Taher al-Labadi, a researcher at the French Institute for the Near East.