Hamas to pay public sector salaries

Hamas finance ministry official Ismail Mahfouz said government employees in the Gaza Strip will begin to receive their salaries on Thursday. Mahfouz said in a press conference that salaries estimated to be worth 77 million shekels will be paid to around 40,000 public sector workers in the Hamas government. The salaries will be paid gradually, the Hamas official said, with lower salaries paid first. Governor of the Palestinian Monetary Authority, Jihad al-Wazir, said earlier in January that a shortage of currency had held up payment of public sector employees' wages in the Gaza Strip in recent months and the deficit of shekels was increasing the price of the dollar in the coastal strip.