Effects of Gaza's pay freeze
Wages for Hamas employees
Hamas accuses Fatah of withholding the salaries of tens of thousands of its employees in the Gaza Strip. The Gaza-based group has demanded that Fatah place its workers on the payroll, but Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has refused to recognise Hamas employees, saying they were appointed by an illegitimate government.
Just hours before the agreement was announced, Hamas made it clear that employee salaries remained a key issue. Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri slammed the West Bank government in a Facebook, holding them responsible for an ongoing strike by hospital cleaners in the Gaza Strip:
"The Hamas movement calls on Hamdallah’s government to take responsibility for the catastrophic health situation in the Gaza Strip because of paralysis in cleaning services. This is caused by the government’s neglect of the demands of sanitation workers in Gaza’s hospitals. Hamas warns of the danger that any continuation of this disastrous situation may pose to the lives of patients in Gaza’s hospitals."
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