Israel refused to allow Palestinian election officials access to east Jerusalem or Gaza ahead of legislative polls, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, increasing concerns that the vote will be postponed.
The Palestinian legislative elections are due to take place on November 28, a month after Israel's own general election, but many Palestinians expect them to be postponed or cancelled, as happened in 2021.
If they go ahead, they will be the first in two decades.
"The Israeli government has refused to allow the Central Elections Commission to enter the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem to oversee preparations for the legislative elections," Wafa news agency reported, citing a Palestinian official.
Neither Israel's defence ministry nor COGAT, its affiliated entity in charge of civilian matters in Palestinian territories, responded to AFP requests for confirmation of the decision to block the officials.
Farid Taamallah, spokesman for the Palestinian Central Elections Commission, told AFP his commission could still hold elections.
"The Commission is continuing to organise the electoral process despite the Israeli decision," Taamallah said, stating that commission employees in Gaza were already trained and present on the ground.
The European Union, the Palestinian Authority's main financial backer and a staunch advocate for Palestinian elections, is "ready to deploy" election observers to monitor the elections, top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday.
"Palestinians have the right to choose their representatives in elections that are credible, inclusive and transparent," Kallas posted on X after talking to Palestinian vice president Hussein al-Sheikh.
In turn, Sheikh called in a post on X for "European support for Palestinian efforts to... overcome any obstacles that might hinder the holding of elections, in a way that guarantees the participation of all members of our people in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip"
In early September, top Palestinian official Jibril Rajoub told reporters the elections would not be held on time.
Rajoub, secretary-general for the dominant Fatah party of 90-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas, said holding presidential elections first "would solve a large part of the problem".
Fatah rivals including Hamas and the Democratic Reform Current, a Fatah splinter group, have said they aimed to create joint lists for the election.
An August poll by the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center found that only 29 percent of Palestinians expected the November election to go ahead as scheduled.
The last legislative elections in the Palestinian territories were held in 2006, when Islamist movement Hamas won. They defeated Fatah, which dominates the Palestinian Authority in charge of areas of the West Bank.
As a result, the Palestinian Legislative Council, which is the PA's parliament, has not met since 2007.
President Abbas stayed on beyond the end of his term in 2009 and has since ruled by decree.
Holding elections is part of the reforms demanded by the international community, including the European Union.
Abbas won the last Palestinian presidential election in 2005, and his term should have expired in 2009.
