Members of the international Quartet will consult this week on how to avert the imminent financial collapse of the Palestinian Authority even before a new Hamas-led government takes office.

With the Islamist party as much as a month away from forming a cabinet, the outgoing PA government faces a deficit of up to $370m (€312m, £212m) for February and March if all its outstanding obligations are taken into account. That would include it meeting a request from the US to return $50m of infrastructure aid.