UN Needs $348Mln To Assist Palestinians In 2020 Amid Record Low Funding Levels - Official

UN Needs $348Mln to Assist Palestinians in 2020 Amid Record Low Funding Levels - Official

The UN Humanitarian Plan requires more than $340 million to provide needed humanitarian assistance in the occupied Palestinians territories this year amid a record deficit of funds, Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller said on Tuesday

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2020) The UN Humanitarian Plan requires more than $340 million to provide needed humanitarian assistance in the occupied Palestinians territories this year amid a record deficit of funds, Assistant-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Ursula Mueller said on Tuesday.

"The Humanitarian Response Plan for 2020 is highly prioritized and requests $348 million to provide basic food, protection, health care, shelter, water and sanitation to 1.5 million of the most vulnerable Palestinians," Mueller told the UN Security Council. "We are also facing record-low funding levels."

Mueller noted that unemployment in Gaza stands at 45 percent, while some 46 percent of people live below the $5.5 poverty line. The economic hardship has put one in every two Palestinians, or 2.4 million people, in need of assistance in 2020, she said.

Mueller also noted that operating space for humanitarian actors is limited by both, the Israeli and Palestinian authorities, and there are efforts to delegitimize needed humanitarian action.

UN member states should strengthen their support to aid operations in the areas and ensure that humanitarian partners can operate there, Mueller said.