Gaza's public sector workers finally receive salaries after new Qatar cash injection

It came despite a major flareup between Hamas and Israel that saw Avigdor Lieberman resign as Israel's defence minister after accusing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of being soft on the Palestinian group.

Hundreds of employees of Hamas government departments waited in long queues outside banks in the Gaza Strip from the early hours, AFP reporters said.

The Hamas-run finance ministry announced in a statement to local media that the money would be distributed over the next two days, with employees receiving 50 percent of their salaries.

Doaa, a 36-year-old employee at the women's ministry in Gaza, said she came early in the morning to receive her salary.

"This payment helps us to live our life and meet the needs of our children, even if only a little."

In Qatar's operation, a total of $90 million is to be distributed in six monthly instalments of $15 million, according to authorities, primarily to cover salaries of officials working for Hamas.

A first tranche of $15 million was distributed in November, and the second one was brought into Gaza late Thursday by Qatari ambassador Mohammed al-Emadi, Hamas sources said.

The Qatar envoy to Gaza also met Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.

The Qatari cash injection is part of an unofficial truce between Hamas and Israel, that was supposed to see an end to months of violent protests along the Gaza-Israel border in exchange for an easing of Israel's crippling blockade of the coastal enclave.

But on 11 November, Israeli undercover troops raided Gaza in a botched operation, leading to a gun battle which killed seven Palestinians, including a senior Hamas commander.

An Israeli army officer was also killed.

In the following days, Hamas fired hundreds of rockets at Israel in response.

The Israeli military carried out at least a hundred air raids on different locations in Gaza after the incursion, killing at least six Palestinians and wounding several more, along with destroying several Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions.

A ceasefire two days later ended the violence, but Lieberman, who was opposed to the Qatari money transfer, resigned.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since pushing out rival faction Fatah in a 2007 near civil war.

Fatah civil servants were then instructed not to work, so Hamas has hired around 40,000 additional staff.

Hamas and Israel have fought three wars since 2008. The last war in 2014 killed more than 2,220 Palestinians, including 500 children.