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Gaza health ministry warns PA against salary cuts

February 18, 2019 at 11:35 am

Palestinian Authority employees in the Gaza Strip take part in a protest demanding their salaries in Gaza city on 10 May 2018 [Dawoud Abo Alkas/Apaimages]

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza yesterday warned of the “negative” consequences of cutting salaries of its staff by the Palestinian Authority (PA).

In a press release the Ministry’s spokesman Ashraf Al-Qidra said: “Cutting the salaries of the [health ministry’s] employees completes the other side of the equation, which is stripping the right of patients in Gaza to have medical treatment.”

Al-Qidra noted that the PA has cut the salaries of 262 paramedics working in the besieged Gaza Strip, adding: “This measure is deemed one more aggression on the healthcare institution which aims to undermine its basic [provisions].”

The spokesman called for all official, social and legal bodies to protect the rights of employees, which are guaranteed by Palestinian civil law, in order to avoid “dangerous repercussions” on the lives of patients.

The Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association – better known as Addameer – said earlier this month that the PA had cut the salaries of more than 5,000 employees in Gaza for their affiliation with Hamas, which governs Gaza. The PA has imposed a number of punitive measures on the Strip in order to pressure Hamas, with which Fatah – the Palestinian faction which dominates the PA – has been engaged in a bitter feud since the last Palestinian elections in 2006.

The PA has not yet issued any official comment on cutting salaries.

 Gaza: PA cuts salaries of hundreds of doctors, teachers