On December 28, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Defence Minister Benny Gantz held a meeting at the latter’s home. This was their second official encounter since the current Israeli government took power in June. The two had previously met in August and had had a phone call a few weeks beforehand.

Gantz and Abbas discussed deepening security cooperation between the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Israeli government and measures to ease the severe economic crisis in the West Bank.