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Abbas criticised for cutting salaries of Gaza employees

February 7, 2019 at 11:37 am

Public officials withdraw money after the Palestinian government applied a 30 per cent wage deduction from Public officials salaries in Gaza on 1 June 2017 [Ali Jadallah/Anadolu Agency]

Several Palestinian bodies, including NGOs, have severely criticised the measure taken by the Palestinian Authority (PA), PLO and Fatah leader to cut the salaries of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Even member’s of Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party criticised cutting the salaries and stressed that this decision must be reviewed.

According to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), 5,043 Palestinian employees or families of wounded Palestinians and martyrs have not received their salaries this month, noting that they headed to the banks on Tuesday and found no deposits in their accounts.

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The PCHR said that their salaries were cut die to their political views as all of them were loyal to Hamas, Islamic Jihad or dismissed Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan.

At the beginning of 2017, Abbas slashed the salaries of employees in the Gaza Strip.

This month, 5,043 salaries were completely cut and the others received 75 per cent of their salaries.

Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri said slashing salaries is a “crime against humanity” and condemned the “silence” of donor countries.