Related: Palestinian militants warn banks
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 |
| The Hamas-led Palestinian government began
on Sunday to pay salaries to the government employees who have not been
paid since March, the Bank of Palestine announced. (Photo: Xinhua/
Reuters) |
GAZA, June 4
(Xinhua) -- The Hamas-led Palestinian government began on Sunday to pay salaries
to the government employees who have not been paid since March, the Bank of
Palestine announced.
In a statement, the bank said that it opened its ATM
network for the Palestinian civil servants who hold its accounts.
The government said that it would deposit 1,500
shekels (325 U.S. dollars) in the accounts of the 40,000 lowest-paid workers,
adding the other 125,000 workers will have to wait.
Some bank sources confirmed that "our bank has
started to transfer the salaries of civil servants who earn less than 1,500
shekels (330 dollars) a month by automatic transfer."
Some civil servants had already come to withdraw
their money via ATM machines, they added.
The Palestinian government is bankrupt because of a
Western aid cutoff. Israel, the United States and the European Union list Hamas
as a terror organization.
The 165,000 employees have not received their salaries from March due to financial crisis facing the Palestinians caused by the aid cut-off and the frozen tax revenues after the Hamas-led cabinet took office in late March. Enditem
