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Israeli Government Skips Vote on Allowing Return of Palestinian Workers From West Bank
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: ABIR SULTAN POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israel’s security cabinet on Sunday discussed but ultimately shelved a vote on whether to allow Palestinian workers from the West Bank to enter the country for the first time since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre, leaving the decision in limbo until differences over the matter are resolved.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — as well as representatives from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Shin Bet security service, and Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), a unit within Israel’s Defense Ministry that implements civilian policy in the West Bank — reportedly supported letting in a certain number of workers. However, the measure was opposed by the Israel Police and several members of the governing coalition.
Amid such disagreement, Netanyahu did not bring the matter to a vote, fearing it would be voted down without a clear majority of support.
Earlier on Sunday, the socioeconomic cabinet, a 15-member body led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and consisting of ministers from the governing coalition, voted against the move to allow the entry of Palestinian workers. Smotrich said the socioeconomic cabinet recommended that the security cabinet not allow the West Bank Palestinians to reenter Israel.
“Money and building permits do not buy peace,” said Smotrich. “Anyone who killed us when there was no money will kill us also when there is money. The security of the citizens of Israel comes first.”
Palestinian laborers have not been allowed in Israel since Palestinian terrorists led by Hamas invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7 and massacred 1,200 people, mostly civilians. The terrorists also abducted 240 people as hostages back to Hamas-ruled Gaza.
Israeli Economy Minister Nir Barkat, who has announced his intention to run in party elections to unseat Netanyahu, also spoke out against the prime minister to Hebrew media.
“You live in Oct. 6; you refuse to accept that the world order has changed,” he said. “The days when Israel depended on the working hands of Palestinian laborers are over. We must create alternatives. You want to bring the enemy into Israel? Are you crazy? You didn’t learn anything from Oct. 7.”
Prior to the Hamas atrocities and ensuing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, industries such as construction and agriculture were heavily dependent on Palestinian labor. According to government statistics, more than 100,000 Palestinians were in possession of work permits that allowed them to enter sovereign Israel daily to do their work. About 150,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and an additional 17,000 from Gaza had permits to enter Israel legally for work.
However, after Hamas’ murderous onslaught across southern Israel, the government shut down entry of workers from Gaza and the West Bank. The move, initially unchallenged in the public sphere, took away the laborers’ main income source. This reality prompted the security establishment to recommend allowing some workers in, both for economic reasons and out of fear of that if they stayed out of work for too long, they would resort to violence, according to Hebrew-language media.
As a result, the government decided to allow in 8,000 Palestinians to positions they deemed essential, such as in hotels where Israelis displaced by the war were staying that were short staffed.
According to the proposal being debated on Sunday evening, the government was discussing reissuing visas to Palestinians over the age of 35, with the justification that those above 35 are less likely to perpetrate terror attacks. This idea was opposed by Gideon Saar, a member of War Cabinet Benny Gantz’s party, who according to leaks from the meeting said the security establishment “forgot to mention how many attacks [on Oct. 7] were committed by married men over the age of 35.”
One of the proposals reportedly said the Israeli officials would look into an increase of foreign workers to help address the shortage of laborers. Since the outbreak of the war, many foreign workers have returned to their countries of origin, while domestically Israelis have been largely focused on the war effort.
The post Israeli Government Skips Vote on Allowing Return of Palestinian Workers From West Bank first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.