[PRESSTV] The Palestinian resistance Movement Hamas has ceded control of the Gaza crossings to the Palestinian Authority. Ceding the crossings to the Palestinian Authority came under a preliminary reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, last month in a bid to end the decade-long Palestinian rift.
Ministers from the Abbas-backed government of national consensus have begun gradually to assume their duties in Gaza in past weeks and on Tuesday took over the revenue accounts of the Rafah and Kerem Shalom crossings, officials said.
Hamas had used those revenues—taxes and fees collected from merchants and passengers—as part of its Gaza budget, to pay salaries of the 40,000 to 50,000 employees it has hired since 2007. Those wages will now be paid by the PA, under the Cairo agreement.
The Palestinian Authority will begin operating the Erez and Kerem Shalom crossings immediately, officials said, while in Rafah the operation will await further security arrangements such as deploying a force from Abbas's presidential guards and Cairo completing innovations on its side of the facility. |