Some 13,000 UN employees in Gaza Strip strike to protest cost-cutting measures
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Thousands of employees of the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency in the Gaza Strip are striking against cost-cutting measures the agency is imposing to overcome a financial crisis.
The protesters say they want the commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency to cancel measures that would allow the agency to impose one-year unpaid leave on staff and increase the number of students in U.N.-run classrooms.
Some 13,000 teachers, health workers and other employees are on strike. A demonstration Monday outside the agency's Gaza headquarters was the largest of a series of demonstrations in recent weeks.
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Hamas-run schools in the Palestinian territory began the school year, but U.N.-run schools remain closed because of the strike.
UNRWA spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said the unpaid leave measure has been frozen.