REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, GAZA -- Eight cabinet ministers and 22 officials in the Palestinian unity government suddenly left the Gaza Strip on Monday evening following deep disputes with the Islamic Hamas movement, officials said.

The high-ranking Palestinian delegation paid a rare visit to Gaza on Sunday and planed to stay in the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave for five days to resolve outstanding issues related to salaries of Gaza employees.

An official close to the delegation told Xinhua that the delegation received instructions from the leadership in Ramallah to cut the visit and leave the Gaza Strip soon.

"The Hamas position to resolve the disputed issue was very stubborn," said the official, adding that "Hamas rejected the unity government's initiative related to resolving all issues, including the issue of the employees' salaries."

When Hamas seized control of the Gaza Strip by force in 2007, there were 70,000 Palestinian employees getting their monthly salaries paid by the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).

However, after Hamas took control of the enclave, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gave instructions to the 70,000 employees to refrain from going to work, stay at home and get their monthly salaries paid.

To overcome the problem, Hamas nominated 43,000 employees to take the positions of those who refrained from going to work, and paid their salaries for the last seven years.

But when the unity government was formed in June last year, Hamas wanted the unity government to also pay the salaries of its 43,000 employees. The unity government presented an initiative to overcome the crisis.

Leaving the Gaza Strip would deepen the internal division between Hamas movement and the unity government formed by President Abbas, and the situation in the Gaza Strip will be more complicated, according to observers.

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