Israel revokes entry permits of three Palestinian officials

Israel said Saturday it had revoked entry permits for three senior officials from Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party after they visited an Israeli Arab recently released from prison.

Mahmud al-Alul, Azzam al-Ahmad and Rawhi Fattouh had visited Karim Yunis in his home village of Ara in northern Israel following his release on Thursday after serving a 40-year sentence for killing an Israeli soldier.

"The three men took advantage of their status and entered Israel this morning (Saturday) to travel to the home of the terrorist Karim Yunis," the office of Defence Minister Yoav Galant said in a statement.

Galant ordered their Israeli entry permits be revoked in response, it added.

The move follows a decision Friday by Israel's security cabinet to withhold millions of dollars in revenues from the Palestinian Authority and impose a moratorium on Palestinian construction projects in most of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that decision was in response to the UN General Assembly's recent vote to refer Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to the International Court of Justice at the PA's request.

Netanyahu took office late last month at the head of a coalition with far-right and Jewish ultra-Orthodox parties that is regarded as the most right-wing in Israeli history.