UK aid is providing emergency food including rice, sugar and
chickpeas to 62,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza who are at risk
of going hungry.
Refugees in Gaza are extremely vulnerable following recurrent
bouts of conflict, restrictions on access and movement, high
poverty rates, high unemployment levels and rising costs of
living. According to the UN, around 80 per cent of Gazan
households are dependent on food aid.
To meet their emergency and basic needs UK aid is providing
essentials including flour, rice, sugar, chickpeas, sunflower
oil, whole milk, lentils and canned sardines to counter food
supply problems affecting refugees who are unable to afford
rising food prices in Gaza.
Minister for the Middle East said:
I am deeply concerned about the worsening situation in the Gaza
strip, and once again UK aid gives a message to the people of
Gaza that we have not forgotten them or their plight.
It is right that we act to make sure that refugees in Gaza know
where their next meal will come from and improve the dignity of
their lives.
We have been clear that a political settlement is the only way
to ensure lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike.
All parties must redouble their political efforts and return to
the negotiating table, not only to address the deteriorating
conditions in Gaza, but to ensure tragedies of the past months
are not repeated.
The package is part of wider support to Gaza through the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), through which UK aid is
providing healthcare and education to 1.3 million people in Gaza,
as well as more than 800,000 refugees in the West Bank.
Notes to editors
- £5 million of emergency UK aid funding will go to UNRWA to
provide food to refugees in Gaza
- £60.5m of UK aid has already been given to UNRWA to support
vulnerable Palestinian refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria,
Jordan and Lebanon to meet their basic education and health care
needs and humanitarian needs as a result of the Syria crisis.
- This package is new humanitarian funding to UNRWA’s Emergency
Appeal in Gaza.
