Employees of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip began collecting their salaries for a second month Friday, after Qatar pumped more money into the territory with Israel's blessings.
The fresh cash infusion from the Gulf state comes as tensions along the border between Gaza and Israel have cooled in recent weeks after a controversial truce deal in November halted a major flareup between the Jewish state and Hamas. 
Twenty Palestinians were wounded by Israeli fire during protests along the frontier Friday, the health ministry in the enclave said, but demonstrations were far smaller than previous months. 
The new funds from Qatar arrived despite the ceasefire with Hamas unleashing a political crisis in Israel that saw Avigdor Lieberman resign as defence minister after accusing premier Benjamin Netanyahu of going soft on Gaza's Islamist rulers. 
Hundreds of employees of Hamas government departments waited in long queues outside banks in the Gaza Strip from the early hours, AFP reporters said.
The Hamas-run finance ministry announced in a statement to local media that the money would be distributed over the next two days, with employees receiving 50 percent of their salaries.
Doaa, a 36-year-old employee at the women's ministry in Gaza, said she came early in the morning to receive her salary.
"This payment helps us to live our life and meet the needs of our children, even if only a little."
In Qatar's operation, a total of $90 million is to be distributed in six monthly instalments of $15 million, according to authorities, primarily to cover salaries of officials working for Hamas.
A first tranche of $15 million was distributed in early November, and the second one was brought into Gaza late Thursday.
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