Despite unprecedented challenges, the UN Relief Agency for
Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) continues to provide lifesaving
supplies and services to more than 1.5 million displaced people
in southern Gaza.
Agency employees and volunteers at the UNRWA-affiliated Deir
Al-Balah Preparatory School in central Gaza told UN
News that despite difficult conditions restricting the
movement of workers at many international aid organizations, they
continue preparing and distributing food rations.
“People cannot buy any supplies due to their lack [of
availability], and even if they are available, they are
expensive,” said Youssef Saqr, a support counselor at the school.
“We thank UNRWA for the services it provides to people, and we
call on everyone to redouble their efforts so that aid continues
to reach everyone.”
The school had been turned into a centre for sheltering the
displaced following Israeli strikes and bombardment triggered by
Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on 7 October that left 1,200
dead and 240 taken hostage.
Since then, the school-turned-shelter has become home to hundreds
of displaced Palestinians fleeing the ongoing violence.
Relief services urgently needed
UNRWA provides diverse and integrated services to the displaced
in the shelter centre, Mr. Saqr said, the most important of which
are relief aid in addition to health, social and psychological
services.
His job focuses on the psychological aspect, he explained, adding
that he works to educate families and holds special sessions for
children on a daily basis.
Mr. Saqr stressed the urgent need for relief services, noting
that the interruption of aid leads to unimaginable suffering in
shelters because people depend entirely on the aid provided by
UNRWA.
Spread of diseases among children
Supervisor Inaam Rabeh agreed, emphasizing that the aid supplies
that arrive at the school are insufficient.
Working to provide health and social services at the Deir
Al-Balah centre to people with special needs and the elderly, she
warned that dangers were on the rise.
Hepatitis and other diseases have spread widely among children
over the past two weeks due to the lack of hygiene supplies,
medicines, clothing and blankets, which doubles the suffering of
people in the centre, she said.
Delivering aid while facing multiple threats
With the continued bombing and displacement, which also affects
UNRWA employees, the agency’s teams are still focused on
providing relief in Gaza.
Since the war began, more than 150 UNRWA employees have been
killed and dozens of the agency’s headquarters and warehouses
destroyed in various parts of the Gaza Strip.
The main arm of humanitarian efforts in Gaza, the agency runs
shelters housing more than one million people, providing them
with necessary humanitarian relief and primary healthcare.
No other entity has the capacity to provide assistance on the
scale necessary to meet the needs of 2.2 million people in the
Strip, UNRWA said.
Looming funding cuts threaten services
A number of donors suspended their funding to UNRWA last month
following Israel’s allegations of the involvement of 12 agency
employees in the 7 October attacks on Israel.
UNRWA quickly fired nine employees due to the seriousness of the
allegations and is currently investigating the matter. The UN
Office of Internal Oversight Services – the highest investigative
body in the organization – is also investigating the allegations.
UN Secretary-General António
Guterres has appealed to governments that suspended
their funding to UNRWA to reconsider and ensure the continuation
of the agency’s critical operations.
If funding for UNRWA is not resumed, the agency said it will be
forced to cease its operations across the region – including Gaza
– by the end of February. UNRWA serves 5.9 million Palestine
refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
