JERUSALEM — An Israeli security source on Tuesday said “Israel has authorized the entry of 8,000 Palestinian workers from Judea and Samaria into the country’s pre-1967 lines amid a severe shortage of laborers due to the war with Hamas.”
“With the approval of the Israel Defense Forces and Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Palestinian workers have been dispatched to “vital” industrial areas, food factories, medical facilities and burial societies,” said the security official.
Among other places of employment, Palestinians have been brought in to work at a large poultry plant in Jerusalem’s Atarot industrial zone, the source said.
Palestinians from Judea and Samaria have also been hired to work at hotels across the Jewish state, including in some where evacuees from the Israeli towns that Hamas attacked are staying.
The Israeli government is reportedly pushing to bring in even more Palestinian laborers, mainly to be employed in the construction and agricultural sectors.
The Kan public broadcaster said that Jerusalem’s socioeconomic Cabinet, headed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, would discuss the approval of additional permits on Tuesday at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
At the start of Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu stressed the need to maintain Israel’s macro-economic framework so that the economy will function and not collapse, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.
The statement did not mention the issue of Palestinian workers in Israel.
Palestinian terrorists killed at least 1,400 people and wounded more than 5,000 in a massive offensive launched from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, which included the firing of thousands of rockets at Israel and the infiltration of the Jewish state by terrorist forces.
Thousands of foreign workers have fled Israel since the start of the war. At the same time, many Israeli citizens have been called up for military service as the IDF prepares for a massive air, ground and sea invasion of Gaza to destroy Hamas.
The plan to let in more Palestinians from Judea and Samaria has previously been met with opposition from National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“I am against the entry of thousands of workers from the [Palestinian] Authority who may endanger civilian lives,” said Ben-Gvir in an Oct. 22 post on X (formerly Twitter).
Before the Oct. 7 attack, Israel provided work permits for some 17,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to enter Israel. According to reports, some of them carried out reconnaissance for Hamas in preparation for the Oct. 7 terrorist onslaught.
Produced in association with Jewish News Syndicate
