1.3 mln refugees become under 2 sieges in Gaza after UNRWA aid cessation

GAZA, Sep. 5 (YPA) – Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip expected their humanitarian and economic conditions to worse following the decision of the United States of America last Friday to stop all its funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

The agency has been suffering mainly from a financial crisis since the administration of the US president Donald Trump decided in January to reduce its contribution in 2018 to $ 65 million, compared to $ 365 million in 2017, claiming that Washington sought to address “problems in the way of the agency work, but no change.”

More than 1.3 million refugees in Gaza are suffering from extremely poor humanitarian and economic conditions, in which they share with about one million other Palestinians (non-refugees) in the Gaza Strip due to a continuous Israeli blockade since 12 years.

These refugees fear that the UNRWA administration will reduce its services, particularly in the areas of food aid and education, because of US policy towards the UN agency.

In separate conversations with Anatolia agency, refugees called on the UNRWA administration to mobilize funding to continue its services, as a UN agency established for the relief of Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from their lands in 1948.

Palestinians said that Washington is targeting “UNRWA” in an attempt to resolve the refugee issue, as a prelude to the declaration of a US peace plan, which includes forcing the Palestinians to unfair concessions in favor of the Jewish state.

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