Gaza City, Gaza Strip – The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip will begin paying thousands of civil servants cut from the payroll of its moderate rival Fatah, officials said Saturday, further entrenching the divisions between the two Palestinian territories.
Hamas’ takeover of Gaza, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ subsequent decision to dismiss the Hamas government, effectively set up two Palestinian administrations. Abbas has installed a Cabinet headed by U.S.- backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad that has control of the West Bank.
During a year of Hamas rule, following the group’s election victory in January 2006, civil servants were paid only sporadically because of an international aid boycott.
Hamas officials said payments will begin today, and that it had enough money to pay salaries in the near future. However, it was unclear how long it could keep up the payments.
Separately, Information Minister Riad Malki said Saturday that Fayyad’s government had reached an agreement with Israel, bypassing Hamas, that will enable 6,000 Gazans stranded in Egypt since the beginning of June to return home gradually.
Their return had been delayed by a dispute over the Rafah terminal on the Gaza-Egypt border, the only entry to Gaza that has been closed since the Fatah-Hamas fighting began.
