Funding for humanitarian operations in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory (OPT) is at an “all-time low”,
threatening the delivery of life-saving aid to people in the West
Bank and Gaza, the United Nations warned on Friday.
So far, only 25 per cent of the nearly $540 million needed this
year has been received, the organization’s humanitarian affairs
office, OCHA, has reported.
OCHA said the decline in funding for the UN agency assisting
Palestine refugees, UNRWA, “has been a key
contributing factor.”
UNRWA provides education, health care and social services for
more than five million Palestine refugees across the Middle East
and is the single largest humanitarian agency in the OPT. It is
funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member
states.
UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl this week described 2018 as
“a year of anguish” for
Palestinians, with thousands of young people killed or injured in
demonstrations in Gaza and elsewhere.
The outside world appears numb to the tragedy unfolding.
- Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator
At the same time, his agency has faced “its worst crisis ever”,
and only has enough money to fund its operations until the end of
September. “UNRWA’s current shortfall is US$ 217 million,” he
told its Advisory Commission on Thursday.
“Specifically, we still need $123 million for our Program Budget
activities, the core of UNRWA’s response and $94 million for our
Emergency Appeals. These are considerable amounts, without which
operations cannot be ensured until the end of the year.”
Overall, two million people in the OPT are in need of “active protection
measures” due to conflict and violence, displacement or
restricted access to employment and essential services, according
to Jamie McGoldrick, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the region.
He said this has been “particularly evident” in recent weeks
following an escalation of hostilities between Palestinian armed
groups and the Israeli forces.
“Since 1 July, we have seen the deaths of four Palestinian
civilians, including that of a pregnant mother and her toddler
child while asleep in their beds in Gaza, and the injury of two
Israeli girls by rocket fire in Sderot, among some 100
Palestinian civilians and nearly 30 Israelis injured. In spite of
this, the outside world appears numb to the tragedy unfolding,”
he said in a statement issued ahead of World Humanitarian Day,
observed this Sunday.
The annual commemoration pays tribute to the aid workers who risk
their lives supporting millions worldwide affected by conflict,
natural disaster and other emergencies.
Mr. McGoldrick praised humanitarian workers in the OPT, adding
that they “regularly face personal risk and assaults on their
dignity, often while withstanding the same restrictive conditions
that drive the humanitarian crisis” there.
