The Hamas-run government in the Gaza Strip on Monday announced a 540-million-dollar (377-million-euro) budget for 2010 with just 55 million dollars coming from taxes and other local sources of revenue. MP Jamal Nassar, the head of the Palestinian parliament's budget committee, declined to say how the Islamist group would make up the 485-million-dollar shortfall, saying only that it would be covered by "aid and assistance."
Israel and Egypt have sealed Gaza off from all but vital goods since the Islamist movement seized power in June 2007, but Hamas, which is backed by Iran and Syria, is believed to smuggle cash and weapons through tunnels from Egypt. Despite the blockade, the Hamas-run government has regularly paid 22,000 civil servants, including thousands of security forces, since it drove out forces loyal to the Western-backed Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
The budget includes 30 million dollars to aid "Jerusalem and the steadfastness of its people," but it was not clear how the money would reach the city, which is under complete Israeli control. Iran has been a staunch supporter of Hamas since the movement won Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, although Tehran says its aid does not extend to military arms and training, as Israel has alleged.
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