Norway has agreed to act as an intermediary to help unfreeze tax funds earmarked for the Palestinian Authority (PA) that are held by Israel, the Norwegian foreign minister has said, Reuters reports.

Under interim peace accords reached in the 1990s, Israel’s finance ministry collects tax on behalf of the Palestinians and makes monthly transfers to the PA. But no payments have taken place since November following the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Hamas in October.

“Work is now underway to try to establish the framework for such a solution. We are in dialogue with both the Israeli and Palestinian authorities and other stakeholders,” Barth Eide told Reuters, without giving further details.

He said he was deeply concerned about the PA’s financial situation, which he described as “grave”.

In addition, the freeze “endangers the (PA’s) ability to provide basic services, like paying salaries to health workers and teachers, among others,” he said.Accessing this revenue is key to the survival of the PA, which exercises limited self-rule in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.