Protests within Fatah Movement, Factions Due to Measures against Gaza

A girl is carried as Palestinians celebrate after Hamas said it reached a deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in Gaza City October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
A girl is carried as Palestinians celebrate after Hamas said it reached a deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in Gaza City October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
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Protests within Fatah Movement, Factions Due to Measures against Gaza

A girl is carried as Palestinians celebrate after Hamas said it reached a deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in Gaza City October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem
A girl is carried as Palestinians celebrate after Hamas said it reached a deal with Palestinian rival Fatah, in Gaza City October 12, 2017. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Angry protests within Fatah Movement and some factions of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) have intensified over measures taken by the Palestinian Authority against the Gaza Strip, especially the salary crisis and the lack of commitment to pay the full wages, as announced by President Mahmoud Abbas during the recent National Council conference in Ramallah.

Fatah Movement in the Gaza Strip decided to carry out a series of measures in protest of the government’s policy towards the sector’s employees. The decision came during a prolonged meeting on Wednesday at the residence of the Movement’s chief in Gaza, Ahmed Halas.

“We will exercise our natural right to end those measures by legal and legitimate means, and we will not abandon our national and moral responsibilities in defending the rights of our people, mainly the martyrs and the wounded and our heroic families, as well as all the employees who have borne the burden of the struggle and contributed to the establishment of the Palestinian National Authority,” Fatah Movement in Gaza said in a statement.

“The natural solution to address all the problems of Gaza begins with the government of national accord assuming its full responsibility in the southern provinces alike the northern governorates, and enable it to extend full control over all aspects of official work without interference from any organization or party,” the statement added.

The Movement in Gaza held Hamas responsible for obstructing the handover of ministries in Gaza to the national accord government. In this regard, it called on the organization to implement the agreement which was reached in Cairo last year.

Fatah called on the Palestinian president to direct the government to immediately disburse all state employees’ salaries.

In parallel, dozens of PA employees in Gaza held a strike on Wednesday at the Unknown Soldiers’ Square in Gaza city. Protesters, who included families of martyrs, carried banners demanding the government to pay their salaries.



UN Rights Chief ‘Gravely Concerned’ by Lebanon Escalation

Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
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UN Rights Chief ‘Gravely Concerned’ by Lebanon Escalation

Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)
Smoke billows above Beirut’s southern suburbs following an Israeli airstrike on November 26, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (AFP)

The UN rights chief on Tuesday voiced concern about the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon, where his office said nearly 100 people had been reported killed by Israeli airstrikes in recent days, including women, children and medics.

Israel has been locked in fighting with Lebanese armed group Hezbollah since Oct. 2023, and fighting has escalated dramatically since late September of this year.

"UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk is gravely concerned by the escalation in Lebanon with at least 97 people reportedly killed in Israeli airstrikes between the 22nd and 24th of November," Jeremy Laurence, a spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, told a Geneva press briefing.

He said that at least seven paramedics had been reported killed in three Israeli strikes in the south of Lebanon on Nov. 22-23, adding to 226 healthcare worker deaths since Oct. 7, 2023. He did not specify how many of the recent deaths had been verified by UN human rights monitors.

Israel says it targets military capabilities in Lebanon and Gaza and takes steps to mitigate the risk of harm to civilians. It accuses Hezbollah, like Hamas, of hiding among civilians, which they deny.