37 rectify the situation of Gaza government employees remained without progress. The public service file in the Gaza Strip remains the most prominent obstacle to achieving Palestinian reconciliation. This sensitive issue resulted in failure to taking rectifying measures concerning public officials. It also contributed to eroding trust and seriousness between both sides of the division. In fact, it exacerbated the deterioration in basic vital services in the Gaza Strip. ICHR reaffirms its recommendations contained in its previous annual reports, in particular: • The necessity for the Council of Ministers to adopt a system related to the public service in emergencies, through which it defines measures and procedures that would maintain stability of job centers and ensure uninterrupted provision of public services. • The necessity for the Council of Ministers to cancel the decision to refer public employees in the Gaza Strip to early retirement for violating the Civil Service Law. This, in addition to affecting large sectors of employees, affecting the basic vital services sector (education and health in particular) guaranteed by law and taking into account the obligations arising from the accession of the State of Palestine to the International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights. • The need for the Council of Ministers to stop using its powers to infringe on the system of rights and freedoms guaranteed to public officials and to abide by legal standards in approving government policies related to the salaries of public officials, prisoners and liberated persons in the Gaza Strip, which must be subject to standards of equality and non-discrimination. • The necessity of activating the work of the legal administrative committee assigned by the previous government of reconciliation to rectify the legal positions of the employees of the Gaza government, in order to ensure that their rights are guaranteed on legal grounds. 2. Development in the case of economic, social and cultural rights 2.1 Development in the right to work Because of the Corona pandemic in the Palestinian territory, and declaring a state of emergency, the government took health and procedural measures related to closing different economic sectors, or the reduction of the number of workers there. The government also decided to lockdown governorates and cities, which prevented workers from being able to reach their workplaces, and the cessation of Executive Summary 2020