Palestinian Government Continues to Slash Public Wages

Palestinian Authority employees queue to receive their salaries from an ATM in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2012. Reuters file photo
Palestinian Authority employees queue to receive their salaries from an ATM in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2012. Reuters file photo
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Palestinian Government Continues to Slash Public Wages

Palestinian Authority employees queue to receive their salaries from an ATM in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2012. Reuters file photo
Palestinian Authority employees queue to receive their salaries from an ATM in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip in April 2012. Reuters file photo

The Palestinian Ministry of Finance and Planning announced Sunday that government employees will only receive 50 percent of their August salaries, for the fourth month in a row.

It said in a statement that employees with salaries below 1,750 shekels (USD488) will receive their full wages, while the rest will be paid at least 1,750 shekels or half their salaries, Reuters reported.

The government will pay the wages of employees in the health, security, and education sectors on Tuesday while the rest will get paid Wednesday.

In May, the Palestinian Authority (PA) refused to receive taxes collected by Israel.

Israel collects some USD190 million a month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through its ports.

This amount contributes to 50 percent of the state’s budget whose deficit reached USD1.4 billion as a result of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The PA fell short of its financial pledges in May, June, and July through paying incomplete salaries.



Ambulances Can’t Operate in Northern Gaza Strip, Health Ministry Says

A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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Ambulances Can’t Operate in Northern Gaza Strip, Health Ministry Says

A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)
A Palestinian man sits on the rubble of a house destroyed in the Israeli military offensive, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 4, 2024. (Reuters)

The Gaza Health Ministry said ambulances are no longer operating in the north of the enclave, where Israel has been waging a renewed offensive for nearly a month.

Eyad Zaqout, a senior ministry official, told reporters Monday that “a large number of injured people are bleeding on the roads.”

The ministry also said in a statement that Israeli forces continue to bombard Kamal Adwan Hospital with strikes on Monday, injuring some staff and patients.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

The Civil Defense, first responders operating under the Hamas-run government, said last week that they were no longer able to operate in the north because crews had been fired upon by Israeli forces.

Israel launched its latest offensive in northern Gaza in early October, focusing on Jabalia, a densely populated, decades-old urban refugee camp where it says Hamas had regrouped. It has also carried out strikes in nearby Beit Lahia.

Israel has ordered the entire population in northern Gaza to evacuate, and tens of thousands have fled to Gaza City in recent weeks.

The three hospitals serving the northern areas are barely functioning and have been largely cut off by the fighting. Israeli forces raided one of them, saying fighters were sheltering there, allegations denied by Palestinian officials.

Israel has also sharply reduced the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, even after a warning from the United States that it could jeopardize American military support.