Ramallah: July salaries for the employees of the Palestinian public sector landed on Wednesday in the banks but not half of it as officially announced.

Palestinian employees received an average of 400-500 Sheikels after their banks deducted their monthly installments and finances.

Bassam Zakarnah, who heads the Public Services Employees Union, told Gulf News that the Palestinian government deducted from that half salary the employees' dues of securities, pension and retirement.

Once the rest landed in the banks, the monthly installments of car loans and property finances were fully deducted, and the employees were left with almost nothing.

He said that the issue of the cheques, which the employees have already issued for the month of July has not been addressed by the government that never coordinated with the banks when the decision of a half salary payment was made.

"The government has put the employees in an extremely difficult condition considering the fact that the employees will not be able to pay for their other expenditures like the water, electricity and other facilities which the government will not provide the employees for free or even with delayed payment," he said.

"This is a serious crisis," he said.

Zakarnah said that the financial difficulties facing the employees were raised to the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, and the president promised to handle the issue personally.

"We received solid promises by President Abbas that he will handle this issue personally and speak to the donors to send in their delayed payments to cash the other half of the salaries," he said.

"Palestinian employees live in permanent worry about their salaries which are not secured in any way," he said.

With the holy month of Ramadan approaching, employees will not be able to support their families who fully depend on salaries.

Commenting on the current financial crisis of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Yasser Abed Raboo, Secretary General of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization said in a statement that the current PNA financial crisis is unprecedented with no easy solution.