Reuters/Gaza
Some 24,000 civil servants hired by Hamas, many of whom have not received a full salary in almost a year, finally got some pay yesterday from the new Palestinian unity government based in the West Bank.
The funds were supplied by Qatar. But the fact the cash was delivered by the West Bank administration gave a boost to hopes that the unity pact between Palestinian rivals might bear fruit.
Hamas fighters seized control of Gaza in 2007 from forces loyal to Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas. Mutual distrust has festered ever since, marring hopes of building an independent state combining the various Palestinian territories.
However, the two sides finally signed a reconciliation pact in June and, after negotiations involving the United Nations, vehicles carrying cash for the salaries travelled from the West Bank via Israel and into the nearby, isolated Gaza Strip.
Thousands of employees crowded at the gates of Gaza post offices from the early hours of the morning to collect individual payments of $1,200 - a rare boon after a devastating war with Israel which battered the enclave in July and August.
“This money is going to pay my debts. I have to pay for the delayed rent payment, electricity, water bills, the supermarket and the butcher,” said health employee Mahmoud al-Serhy.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has described it as a “humanitarian payment” and the money in no way made up for the months of constant shortfalls or zero salaries. There are no immediate plans for it to recur next month, or anytime soon.
Additionally, some 13,000 employees of the Gaza security establishment loyal to Hamas and a further 3,000 civil servants were excluded from the payment.
An employee of the former Hamas government holds $1,200 in cash outside a post office in Gaza City yesterday after receiving part of his wages that ha
