Ma'an – The Gaza government will begin taking recruits for an internal, voluntary military service in the coming months, the Strip's interior minister announced Tuesday.
Fathi Hammad, speaking at a ceremony inaugurating the new office of the director general for police training, said the recruitment process would be governed by an appointed committee that was in the final stages of preparation.
After a study on voluntary recruitment, Interior Ministry spokesman Ihab Al-Ghussein said the committee would submit a series of recommendations to the minister. In turn, the minister will make amendments to the recommendations and pass off the file to the government for ratification.
In the Tuesday edition of the Gaza-based newspaper Ar-Risala, an unnamed source was quoted as saying the voluntary recruitment would quickly become a mandatory service requirement seen as a "religious duty" for men of the Strip.
Responding to the report, Al-Ghussein said a possible switch to mandatory service had not yet been discussed.
Restrictions eased for Israeli imports
Meanwhile, the Hamas-led Transport Ministry in Gaza says that it will begin allowing merchants to purchase cargo trucks from Israel.
Director of the ministry's Vehicle Engineering Department Hassan Ukasha said the decision came after several trucks were damaged during Operation Cast Lead between December 2008 and January 2009 had yet to be replaced.
Ukasha said the move would "test how serious" Israel was in implementing its ease of the blockade following an increase in trucks entering Gaza from 150 to 250.
The ministry issued new minimum-standard guidelines for the cargo trucks, which must hold a minimum of 27 tons and be made from 1998 onward.
Israel announced in mid-June that it would be easing certain terms of its four-year blockade of Gaza and allow in previously-barred goods. Additionally, a list of banned items for import was published, which includes what Israel describes as "dual use" materials largely for the construction industry.
Posts
