GAZA, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- Civil servants hired by Islamic Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip went on strike on Monday to protest "the disregard" of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Consensus Government to iron out their issue of being unpaid.
"The one-day strike comes to protest the consensus government's neglect of the employees' rights," head of Gaza Civil Servants Syndicate, Yaqob al-Ghandour, told Xinhua.
All government offices and schools in Gaza were shut down as a result of the strike. However, hospital emergency departments remained opened.
After routing forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007, Hamas hired some 40,000 employees, mostly its loyalists, to help the Islamic party run the affairs of the Gaza Strip.
"Five months have passed since a reconciliation deal was signed between Hamas and Fatah groups and no solutions to the employees' issue have been reached," al-Ghandour.
He warned that government workers who were employed after 2007 have only got around one and a half salary in the past five months.
Hamas and Fatah rival political parties signed a reconciliation agreement sponsored by Egypt last October, to end a decade long internal split.
However, internal disputes between both parties, including the issue of Hamas-hired employees, still impede the full implementation of the agreement.
The consensus government announced recently it would provide 20,000 of those employees with jobs as soon as the government takes over full control of the Israeli blockaded territory.
