GAZA CITY -- A Palestinian bank began paying one month's salary to thousands of civil servants yesterday despite threats of Western sanctions against institutions that deal with the Hamas government. The move by the Bank of Palestine to pay wages to 10,300 of the lowest-paid employees in the Palestinian Authority came after militant groups warned that local banks refusing to help their people would be branded a "tool" of Israel. Thousands of government workers who have not been paid in three months flocked to withdraw money. Some kissed their money or the bank's automated teller machines.