Gazan civil servants’ salaries paid through Qatar grant

By Ola Atallah

GAZA CITY

Hamas-appointed civil servants in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip began receiving their July salaries on Wednesday through a grant from Qatar, said an official.

Youssef al-Kayali, undersecretary of the strip’s Hamas-run Finance Ministry, told Anadolu Agency that the allocation process had begun under UN supervision.

He added, however, that a "large number" of the strip’s Hamas-appointed civil servants had not been included on the list of grant beneficiaries.

According to the Palestinian media, some 2,800 employees were not included on the list of beneficiaries because the Israeli authorities -- or, according to some reports, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority -- had deemed them "active members of Hamas".

At a press conference held shortly before the grant dispersal, Mohamed al-Emadi, head of Qatar’s National Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, said the $31-million Qatari grant would be paid out "one time only".

He added that the funds -- to be dispersed through the UN -- would not go towards paying salaries owed to members of Gaza’s Hamas-run security forces.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run government continues to face a dire financial crisis that has prevented it from regularly paying the salaries of many public employees.

By Ola Atallah

GAZA CITY

Hamas-appointed civil servants in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip began receiving their July salaries on Wednesday through a grant from Qatar, said an official.

Youssef al-Kayali, undersecretary of the strip’s Hamas-run Finance Ministry, told Anadolu Agency that the allocation process had begun under UN supervision.

He added, however, that a "large number" of the strip’s Hamas-appointed civil servants had not been included on the list of grant beneficiaries.

He added that the funds -- to be dispersed through the UN -- would not go towards paying salaries owed to members of Gaza’s Hamas-run security forces.

The Gaza Strip’s Hamas-run government continues to face a dire financial crisis that has prevented it from regularly paying the salaries of many public employees.