Abu-Marzouk: Abbas must 'pause and review' Gaza's situation

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been dealing with Gaza and its problems harshly, a leading Hamas official said.

“The unity government’s insistence to continue to tax the only fuel station in the Gaza Strip will inevitably lead to the inability of Gaza to pay its bills, which will lead to an increased number of blackouts until Qatar sends more aid to Gaza,” Mousa Abu-Marzouk said in a statement published to his Facebook page.

“The unity government’s decision to finance things in this way is neither justifiable nor reasonable due to the lack of uniformity in state institutions and the equal distribution of pay to employees. We have discussed the issue of the non-payment of employee salaries several times and every time it is justified with the excuse that the people of Gaza are unable to pay taxes.”

Abu-Marzouk called on Abbas to pause and review the outstanding issues and frequent conversations that the government has regarding the Gaza Strip, in addition to the repeated talks of peace and security.

“President Abbas is the one who called for both elections and a review of the security file in a maximum of six months’ time and then he forgets that he wanted either option,” Abu-Marzouk added.