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.



Hamas Claims Attack on Israeli Bus in West Bank That Wounded 8 People, Including 4 Soldiers

Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP
Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP
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Hamas Claims Attack on Israeli Bus in West Bank That Wounded 8 People, Including 4 Soldiers

Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP
Four people suffered bullet wounds, three of them serious, and four others were lightly injured by shards of glass, according to the Magen David Adom rescue service - AFP

Hamas claimed responsibility for a shooting attack on an Israeli bus in the occupied West Bank on Friday that wounded eight people, including four soldiers.

It was the latest violence to scar the territory as tensions run high 14 months into the Israel-Hamas war.

The attacker, who Hamas identified in a statement as Samer Hussein, 46, was killed by Israeli troops shortly after opening fire toward the bus at a junction near the Israeli settlement of Ariel.

The military said four soldiers were lightly wounded. Paramedics said three people were critically wounded.

Attacks by Palestinian fighters on Israelis in the volatile territory have grown more common since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, as Palestinian deaths have also spiked.  

Israeli fire has killed 796 Palestinians since Oct. 7, 2023, mostly in military raids on Palestinian cities and towns. Attacks by settlers on Palestinians and their property have also increased.