Deposed Hamas government to pay public employees' salaries throughout the Palestinian territories

28 July 2007

Gaza - Ma'an – The head of the Palestinian public employees union declared Saturday that the deposed Hamas government has started paying the salaries of newly-appointed civil servants and those registered as unemployed.

Alaa Ad Din Batta, the head of the union, declared that the payments will include all employees hired by the Hamas government throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Speaking to Ma'an correspondent in Gaza, Batta called on all public employees who may have been fired by the caretaker government, headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, to go to the post offices and banks Sunday to receive their salaries. He expressed gratitude to the government of deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh for finding the funds to pay the salaries.

According to the public employees' union, there are 10,000 Gaza Strip workers who have not been payed by the Fayyad government, including 7,000 members of Hamas' Executive Force security service.