“Alarming and expanding” problems affecting Palestine refugees,
risk further destabilizing the Middle East, the head of the UN
Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, UNWRA, said on
Tuesday.
In an appeal for $1.2 billion to fund vital services and
life-saving aid for 5.4 million Palestine refugees in Gaza and
the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon
and Syria, UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl explained
that people’s basic needs had worsened considerably since the
turn of the century.
“We provide food assistance to a million people in Gaza, which is
half of the Gaza population. UNRWA provides that food assistance
every three months,” he explained.
“That is a figure the world should be shocked about, because in
the year 2000, we used to provide food assistance to 80,000. So,
we’ve moved from 80,000 people on our food assistance list to one
million. Why? Because the whole dynamic of the conflict and the
blockade has wiped out entire sectors of the Gaza economy.”
Speaking in Geneva, Mr Krähenbühl praised the generosity of
Member States in supporting the agency’s work, following the
withdrawal of funding by the United States, historically its
biggest donor by far for decades.
UN rights office ‘deeply concerned’ over shooting death in West
Bank
Meanwhile, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) on Tuesday
expressed deep concern over the “protracted and extremely violent
attack” in the West Bank village of Al Mughayyir last Saturday,
during which a 38-year-old Palestinian father of four, Hamdi
Taleb Na’asan, was shot in the back and killed.
“The monitoring by our staff in the West Bank suggests that the
killing took place after a group of up to 30 Israelis - some of
them armed - from the nearby Israeli outpost of Adei Ad, first of
all attacked Palestinian farmers in their fields”, said
spokesperson Rupert Colville, briefing reporters at the UN in
Geneva. He said that settlers “then descended on the village
itself where they used live ammunition to shoot at the villagers
and their houses.”
He added that six villagers had been shot “with live ammunition,
leaving three of them in a serious condition. It is unclear
whether any settlers were also injured, and if so how many.”
He said that although Israeli security forces were stationed near
the village and “were immediately alerted to the attack,
witnesses informed our staff – who visited the village yesterday
– that it took some two hours before they intervened.”
When they did step in, added Mr. Colville, “the main focus of
their action appears to have been to disperse the Palestinian
villagers using teargas. Three more Palestinians were injured by
live ammunition after the intervention of the security forces.”
He said there had been a rise in settler-instigated violence in
the West Bank, “which has reached its highest levels since 2015.”
According to the UN humanitarian affairs office OCHA, the average
number of violent incidents instigated by settlers per month
increased by 57% in 2018 compared to 2017, and by 175% in
comparison to 2016.
The Israeli security forces have opened an initial probe into the
killing of Mr. Na’asan, and we welcome this”, said Mr. Colville.
“We urge the authorities to ensure there is a full investigation
into his killing and the injuries caused to others, and that it
is independent, transparent and effective.”
