UNITED NATIONS – The UN agency mandated to care for Palestinian refugeesMonday warned that its ability to continue providing food to more than onemillion Palestine refugees in the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip will beseverely challenged, without at least an additional $60 million by June.
“At a time when Muslims around the world are observing the holy month ofRamadan, often characterized by the festive nature of its Iftars, in Gaza,more than half the population depends on food aid from the internationalcommunity,” the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in theNear East (UNRWA) said in a statement.
According to UNRWA, it must secure an additional $60 million by June tocontinue providing food to more than one million Palestine refugees inGaza, including some 620,000 “abject poor”, who cannot cover their basicfood needs and are surviving on $1.6 per day. The funds are also needed tocover the severely challenged 390,000 “absolute poor”, who survive on about$3.5 per day.
UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financialsupport, which has been outpaced by growing needs.
From fewer than 80,000 Palestine refugees in Gaza receiving socialassistance in 2000, today over one million people need urgent food aid toget through their day.
“This is a near ten-fold increase caused by the blockade that lead to theclosure of Gaza and its disastrous impact on the local economy, thesuccessive conflicts that razed entire neighborhoods and publicinfrastructure to the ground, and the ongoing internal Palestinianpolitical crisis that started in 2007 with the arrival of Hamas to power inGaza,” Matthias Schmale, Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, said.
UNRWA is also confronted with an increased demand for services resultingfrom a growing number of registered Palestine refugees.Moreover, the tragic death of 195 Palestinians – including 14 UNRWAstudents and the long-lasting physical and psychological injuries of 29,000people during year-long demonstrations, known as the ‘Great March ofReturn’ – come after three devastating conflicts since 2009 that, combined,left at least 3,790 dead and more than 17,000 injured.A 2017 UN report predicted that by 2020, Gaza would be unlivable.
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Today, with over 53 per cent of Gazans unemployed and more than one milliondependent upon quarterly UNRWA food handouts, UN agencies and remittancesfrom abroad are all that stand between Gaza and total collapse.
“For the first time in my year-and-a-half there,” Schmale elaborated, “Ihad three people talking to me separately about noticeably increasing drugabuse, increasing suicide attempts and prostitution and they put this downto the place is collapsing socially, in socio-economic terms and one cansee it and of course against a background like that escalation is possibleat any time”.
By continuing to deliver upon its mandate, UNRWA remains a criticallifeline for most of Gaza’s 1.9 million inhabitants, dispensing services inhealth and education and defending rights and dignity. Most urgent though,is the food assistance to more than one million Palestine refugees.
Operating with large financial shortfalls, as one of the few stabilizingelements in a very complex environment UNRWA is encouraging all MemberStates to work collectively to fund its programme budget as well as itsemergency programmes, which are financed through separate funding portals.
UNRWA is tasked to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria andthe West Bank – including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip – to achievetheir full human development potential. – APP
