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Palestinian Authority Criticized for Referring Thousands of Gaza Employees to Early Retirement

Palestinian employees process data on their laptops at Unit One in Gaza City January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian employees process data on their laptops at Unit One in Gaza City January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
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Palestinian Authority Criticized for Referring Thousands of Gaza Employees to Early Retirement

Palestinian employees process data on their laptops at Unit One in Gaza City January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Palestinian employees process data on their laptops at Unit One in Gaza City January 15, 2015. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A controversy on Palestinian Authority employees in the Gaza Strip has erupted following a PA decision to offer early retirement to around 7,000 employees.

The Palestinian Ministry of Finance imposed an early retirement program on the employees, the majority of whom work for the ministries of education, health, transportation, social development, and finance.

This prompted the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to renew calls on the PA and the government to put an end to all forms of discrimination among the public sector employees and to suspend all procedures taken against them in Gaza.

The Front denounced the measures, which it said coincides with the worst humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It stressed the urgency of national calls to halt all discrimination policies practiced against the Gaza Strip, describing the new measures as illegal and part of the collective punishment of its people.

The Front also decried statements made by Palestinian Social Affairs Minister Ahmed Majdalani, who said that Gaza laborers have been receiving their salaries for 13 years without working. They can’t be compared to the workers in the West Bank, he added.

Senior Fatah official in Gaza Ibrahim Abu al-Naja sent a letter to the government in Ramallah requesting a clarification of Majdalani’s statement, which he deemed offensive.

Fatah Central Committee member Tawfiq al-Tirawi also criticized the latest decision and highlighted the importance of protecting salaries in Gaza, which preserve the people’s social dignity and provide them with a decent living.

For its part, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights called on the government to adhere to its legal commitments, to assume its responsibilities, and to withdraw the punitive measures imposed on Gaza since March 2017 under the pretext of political and geographical division.

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ICRC to Expand Syria Humanitarian Efforts beyond $100 Mln Program

A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
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ICRC to Expand Syria Humanitarian Efforts beyond $100 Mln Program

A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
A logo of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is pictured in Geneva, Switzerland March 29, 2022. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) plans to expand its work in Syria significantly beyond an initial $100 million program, the organization's president said on Monday, citing pressing needs in the health, water and power sectors.
Syria requires $4.07 billion in aid this year, but only 33.1% has been funded, leaving a $2.73 billion gap, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The ICRC's expected expansion follows new access to all regions of the country after the toppling of president Bashar al-Assad last month.
"Our program originally for this year for Syria was $100 million, but we are likely to expand that significantly," ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric told Reuters on the sidelines of a visit to the country.
She said individual donor countries had already come forward with an increase in funding for Syria.
ICRC was one of the few international organizations still operating in Syria under Assad's rule, working on infrastructure projects including water and electricity systems.
"We need to expand that work, we have a lot to do in the health sector," she added.
The organization is engaged in rehabilitation work to sustain water provision at 40% to 50% of what it was before the war, but protection of water facilities remains important as some are close to places where fighting is still under way.
"There are facilities next to the Euphrates Lake that are specific to the protection requirement at the moment," she said.
Initial assessments to begin immediate rehabilitation of Syria’s electricity systems are partly complete, but urgent financial investments and adjustments to sanctions are now required, she added.
"Certain spare parts need to be allowed to come in because that is also hampering the rehabilitation work at the moment. So there's a political dimension to it," she said.
Earlier, people briefed on the matter told Reuters that the US is set to announce an easing of restrictions on providing humanitarian aid and other basic services such as electricity to Syria while maintaining its strict sanctions regime.
On Sunday, Syria's new rulers said US sanctions were an obstacle to the country's rapid recovery and urged Washington to lift them, during a visit by Syrian officials to Qatar.