News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) The Palestinian Authority (PA) used money transferred to it by Israel to pay 12 months' salaries to several thousand members of the Hamas terror gang. This, despite guarantees to Israel that the money would not reach Hamas. The PA Finance Ministry claims that the money was transferred to the Gaza based Hamas members because of a "computer error."

The spokesman for the Hamas Executive Force, Sabir Khalifa, confirmed to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news organization that 3,500 members of the force – almost half of its manpower – received salaries for an entire year. He said: "This is an official recognition from [PA Chairman Mahmoud] Abbas and [PA Prime Minister Salim] Fayyad that the force is legitimate and legal."