The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) expressed concern on Monday that unless it was able to raise an additional $60 million by June, its capability to provide food assistance to over one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza would be challenged
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2019) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) expressed concern on Monday that unless it was able to raise an additional $60 million by June, its capability to provide food assistance to over one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza would be challenged.
"Unless UNRWA secures at least an additional US$60 million by June, our ability to continue providing food to more than 1 million Palestine refugees in Gaza, including some 620,000 abject poor ... will be severely challenged," the agency said in a statement.
According to the statement, the agency's financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs, due to the fact that since 2000, when fewer than 80,000 Palestinians were in need of support, the number significantly increased to over one million people who need emergency food assistance.
"This is a near ten-fold increase caused by the blockade that lead to the closure of Gaza and its disastrous impact on the local economy, the successive conflicts that razed entire neighborhoods and public infrastructure to the ground, and the ongoing internal Palestinian political crisis that started in 2007 with the arrival of Hamas to power in Gaza," Matthias Schmale, director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, said.
The UN agency also said that it was one of the few stabilizing elements in the region and that it was a critical lifeline in Gaza, whose health, education, social services and food services were indispensable to most of Gaza's 1.9 million inhabitants.
UNRWA is funded predominantly by voluntary contributions and is currently operating at a large deficit. It encouraged UN member states to work collectively to help fund the agency's program budget.
Gaza has been at the center of the Israel-Palestinian conflict, which has raged on for decades. The Palestinians have been seeking diplomatic recognition for their independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which are partially occupied by Israel, and the Gaza Strip. In March 2018, the conflict escalated with Palestinians launching weekly protests on the Gaza border, which has led to over 300 Palestinians being killed.
