Gazans rejoice as Qatar vows to pay one month of full salaries
Qatar has announced that it will provide about $31 million to the Gaza Strip, enough to cover one month's salary for Gaza's civil servants, who hope the aid will bypass the banks to avoid deductions for outstanding debts.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani unexpectedly ordered the disbursal of the July salaries of around 50,000 employees of Gaza’s former government. The disbursement of an estimated 113 million Qatari riyals ($31 million), ordered July 21, is intended to alleviate the financial crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The employees of Gaza’s former government have been receiving a monthly advance payment that ranges from 1,200 to 4,500 shekels ($311-$1,168) since early 2014 following the financial crisis that Gaza’s former government faced. The Palestinian consensus government refused to recognize them as official staff, as they were employed following the Palestinian split and Hamas’ control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. The Ministry of Finance in Gaza ensures the advance payment from tax levies and some foreign financial aid.
Sources in the Qatari committee for the reconstruction of Gaza, formed following the 2012 war on Gaza to rebuild the city and its infrastructure, told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that the funds that Qatar’s emir sent to the Gazan workers indeed reached the Gaza Strip a few days ago and will be disbursed in early August. The funds will reach Gaza through the Qatari committee’s bank accounts, bypassing the Israeli financial siege that has blocked money transfers to Gaza since 2007.
The sources asserted that the Qatari ambassador to the Palestinian territories, Mohammad al-Amadi — who arrived in Gaza on July 28 to inspect the Qatari projects to build houses destroyed in the last war and to pave some major roads — will meet with Finance Ministry officials July 30 to decide on a mechanism to disburse the salaries. Many employees called on the ambassador and the Ministry of Finance in Gaza to leave banks out of the salary disbursal to avoid deductions for the workers’ outstanding debt payments.
