GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Barely a few days after the new Palestinian government was announced on June 2, the first of many anticipated crises erupted, following the nonpayment of salaries to employees of the former Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, in contrast to what happened with their Palestinian Authority (PA) counterparts.

The occurrence led to chaos in many Gazan cities on June 4-5, when fights erupted in front of banks, leading to police intervention. This was followed by banks announcing that, starting on June 5, they would remain closed until further notice.

Al-Monitor witnessed these Gaza events, and interviewed a protester who rejected what he called “the policy of discrimination between employees. We must be treated equally, and Gaza employees suffered enough as a result of not getting paid their full salaries for seven continuous months, due to the financial crisis that the former government went through, which led it to pay its employees only half their salaries.”

Another protester expressed to Al-Monitor his understanding of the irritation felt by his Gaza colleagues. “But that did not give them the right to take the law into their own hands, close down banks and prevent tens of thousands of employees from receiving their salaries. There are peaceful ways to express objection, protest and demands; none of which revolve around people forcefully imposing their will on another,” he said.