World Bulletin/News Desk

Civil servants in the Gaza Strip staged a one-day strike on Tuesday to pressure authorities to officially recognize them as part of the recently-formed Palestinian unity government, the union of Gaza's public employees has said.

"Employees of all ministries and other government institutions in the Gaza Strip have declared a one-day strike to press for their rights," union head Mohamed Seyam told Anadolu Agency.

Seyam, whose organization is linked to the Hamas movement, said that Hamas-appointed public employees would continue to stage strikes until they were officially merged into the unity government and their salaries were regulated.

Some 45,000 Hamas-appointed civil servants in the Gaza Strip stopped receiving salaries soon after a national unity government was drawn up in June in line with an earlier reconciliation deal between Hamas and rival Palestinian faction Fatah.

In late October, around 24,000 civil servants in the Gaza Strip received $1,200 each under the terms of a Qatar-funded plan by the Palestinian unity government to pay Hamas-appointed employees several months' worth of back salaries.

Successive Ramallah-based Palestinian governments have refused to formally recognize the Gaza Strip's public employees, which has served to hinder past reconciliation attempts between Fatah and Hamas.

The new unity government, led by Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, has yet to assume political control of the Gaza Strip, further impeding payment of Gaza's civil servants.