WarSclerotic

Hamas said to obtain cash for salaries in Gaza, Times of Israel, Avi Issacjarpff, August 10, 2014

It is still unclear how Gaza rulers obtained the money, an issue in the recent conflict.

Hamas security forces in Gaza City stand guard as employees paid by the Palestinian Authority wait to receive their salaries outside a closed bank, on Thursday, June 5, 2014 (photo credit: AFP/Mohammed Abed)

A diplomatic source in the Gulf state, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at the time that Qatar had transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to the Arab Bank for the salaries of some 44,000 Hamas civil servants. Those civil servants — employed by Hamas in Gaza since its takeover of the Strip in 2007 – were rendered jobless by the unity agreement with Fatah in May.

Hamas has managed to inject millions of dollars into the Gaza Strip to pay the salaries of thousands of workers, a Gaza-based news agency reported on Sunday, after two months in which no such payments were made.

According to the Palestinian Sawa news, salaries were given to all members of Hamas’s military wing, and the salaries of government officials in the Strip were expected to be paid as well. It is unclear how Hamas managed to transfer the money into the Strip or whether the move was intended to quell unrest in the Palestinian enclave, thus paving the way for a ceasefire.

Payment of the salaries has been one of the key demands by Hamas for a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict with Israel. Egypt has been engaged in trying to broker an end to Operation Protective Edge, which Israel launched on July 8 to halt rocket fire from the Gaza Strip and to destroy a network of tunnels, dug by Hamas under the border and used to launch attacks inside Israeli territory.

The unpaid salaries of Hamas members have also been the focus of a major dispute between Fatah and Hamas, and were a significant factor prompting the recent escalation in Gaza.

The salary crisis, which has plagued Hamas for months, compounded the most severe financial shortfall in the organization’s history, caused by significant loss of revenue following the destruction of smuggling tunnels under the Egyptian border.

In mid-July the United States blocked the transfer of Qatari funds earmarked for the salaries of civil servants hired by Hamas in Gaza.

A diplomatic source in the Gulf state, speaking on condition of anonymity, said at the time that Qatar had transferred hundreds of millions of dollars to the Arab Bank for the salaries of some 44,000 Hamas civil servants. Those civil servants — employed by Hamas in Gaza since its takeover of the Strip in 2007 – were rendered jobless by the unity agreement with Fatah in May.

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