GAZA CIVIL SERVANTS RECEIVE SALARY PAYMENT

Gaza, 5 Muharram 1436/29 October 2014 (MINA) – Civil servants of the former Hamas-run government in Gaza received a payment of $1,200 on Wednesday after the Palestinian Authority (PA) transferred millions of dollars to the Strip to pay long-overdue salaries.

As of 8:00 a.m., former civil servants were able to go to post offices across Gaza and receive payment, Ma’an News Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

The PA Ministry of Communication and Technology said in a statement that post offices would only pay salaries to civil servants with valid identity cards and passports.

Some 24,000 employees will be receiving payment and will be able to collect their money any time within a three-day window.

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This is the first salary payment that Gaza civil servants have received in nine months.

Money was transferred to Gaza secretly Tuesday through the Erez crossing in a vehicle heavily guarded by Gaza security officers.

Although the establishment of a unity government in June ended seven years of political division between Hamas in Gaza and the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, key issues such as the payment of workers employed by the previous Hamas-led government in Gaza were not settled.

Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah had said that the unity government was under pressure from the US not to pay the Hamas employees’ salaries.

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Minister of Social Affairs Shawqi al-Ayasa told Ma’an Tuesday that the salaries were only transferred “after the necessary international approvals were obtained.”(T/P008/R03)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)