PA restarts payments to Palestinian prisoners, in West Bank only

The Palestinian Authority has decided to restart payments to Palestinian prisoners and resistance fighters after it controversially ceased the payments in May following pressure from Israel, officials have said, however the decision does not include payments to prisoners in the besieged Gaza Strip.

It was agreed to resume monthly stipends paid out to ex-detainees in the West Bank and detainees in Israeli prisons without any exception

Mansour Shamasneh, spokesperson for detained and formerly detained Palestinians, said at a press conference.

Read: Some Palestinian ex-prisoners in Gaza say their salaries withheld

He stressed that the government pledged to pay the full salary of prisoners and former detainees in the occupied West Bank at the end of this month and will cover the three outstanding payments in a manner which has not yet been announced.The move comes as a result of the ongoing sit-in in occupied Ramallah, Shamasneh told Quds News, along with the efforts exerted by Palestinian factions.

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Detainees and former detainees in the Gaza Strip are not included in the new decision which may believe is part of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ continued policy of collective punishment against the enclave. Abbas hopes crippling the area economically will lead to Hamas handing over power to him.