Residents of Gaza are forced to huddle in makeshift shelters. UNRWA needs $1.2 billion to provide aid in Gaza and West Bank Humanitarian aid
Amid the unprecedented crisis in the Gaza Strip and rising violence in the West Bank, the UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) on Wednesday called on donors to commit $1.2 billion to humanitarian efforts in the Palestinian territories.
The funding will address the most urgent needs of 1.7 million people in Gaza and more than 200,000 Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, by the end of this year.
Foundation of the humanitarian system
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said that Gaza was experiencing the devastating effects of war, while as violence rises in the West Bank.
“It is critical to support UNRWA in providing life-saving humanitarian assistance, health and education services. The past months have proven that there is no replacement or alternative to UNRWA,” he stressed. . UNRWA runs shelters housing more than a million people, distributes food, provides primary health care and coordinates logistics.
After two hundred days of war, the priority remains the delivery of essential supplies, including food, to Gaza, whose population is now almost entirely dependent on humanitarian aid.
Bombing continues
Meanwhile, UNRWA condemned the ongoing “bombing and attacks” on agency facilities in Gaza.
According to a post on UNRWA social media, the school, which became a shelter for the enclave residents, was hit three times on April 11 and April 13, leaving seven people dead and others injured or were forced to flee.
The agency also reported that on Tuesday its staff, together with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), arrived in northern Gaza to provide medical assistance to the population and purify water in Jabaliya.
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