Reply #8: EU to pay gov't workers in Hamas-controlled Gaza [View All]

EU to pay gov't workers in Hamas-controlled Gaza
By Adam Entous

JERUSALEM, June 17 (Reuters) - A European Union aid programme plans to continue making subsistence payments to tens of thousands of Palestinian government workers and pensioners in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, EU officials said on Sunday.

The EU payments may be one of the only financial cushions for Gazans after Islamist Hamas seized control of the territory in fierce fighting with President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah faction.

Israel and the United States want to isolate Hamas -- economically, diplomatically and militarily -- in the Gaza Strip, while allowing funds to flow to the Western-backed emergency government set up in the West Bank by Abbas.

Aid groups have warned of dire consequences for Gaza's 1.5 million impoverished residents. Israel controls the land crossings between Gaza and Israel, as well as Gaza's air space and territorial waters. Israel does not allow the crossing of people or goods via the sea or air.

The EU's Temporary International Mechanism pays monthly "allowances" -- approximately $360 each -- directly to the Palestinian Authority's non-security work force, bypassing the government.

"It will continue to cover Gaza. It's not our policy to strangle the Gaza people," a senior EU official said.

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