Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commented on the future of the Palestinian Authority amid concerns over the weakening positions of its 87-year-old leader Mahmoud Abbas, a report said on Monday. 

In his remarks at the Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, the prime minister said that Israel had no interest in the collapse of the PA administration after Abbas and vowed to support it, according to Kan. 

“We need the Palestinian Authority. We cannot allow it to collapse. We also do not want it to collapse. We are ready to help it financially,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying. 

“Where it succeeds in operating, it does the job for us,” he added. 

The prime minister also said that Israel is “preparing for the day after” Abbas, who doesn’t have a successor. In relation to the Palestinian aspirations for an independent state, Netanyahu reportedly said that “their ambition for a state must be suppressed.” 

These statements come amid heightened tensions in the West Bank with a series of terrorist attacks carried out against Israeli citizens and soldiers in recent weeks. The situation is complicated by Israeli government’s decision announced last week to expand the construction of building units in the West Bank.