GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip ? Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, presiding Wednesday over the first meeting of his Hamas-dominated Cabinet, declared that the government’s coffers were empty and appealed for international assistance.

But on a note of continuing defiance, Haniya, himself a senior Hamas official, denounced Israeli “aggression” and vowed that he and his ministers would go without salaries until money is found to pay nearly 150,000 civil servants.

Up to one-third of the Palestinian population is supported by government paychecks, and international organizations including the World Bank have warned that chaos could result if the Palestinian government is unable to pay its bureaucrats and security forces.

With Hamas having recently been voted into power, the Palestinian Authority faces a precipitous drop in international assistance unless it agrees to renounce its stated aim of Israel’s destruction. Government paychecks, until recently funded mainly by foreign aid, were to have gone out on the first of the month.