Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 16th Feb. UN relief agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) continues to provide lifesaving supplies and services to over 1.5 million displaced people in Rafah despite unprecedented challenges.
UNRWA employees and volunteers at the affiliated Deir Al-Balah Preparatory School in central Gaza told that despite difficult conditions restricting the movement of workers at many international aid organizations, they are preparing and distributing food rations, despite challenges.
Youssef Saqr, a support counselor at the school said “People cannot buy any supplies due to their lack [of availability], and even if they are available, they are expensive.”
“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 turned into a centre for sheltering the displaced after Israeli strikes and bombardment began after Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on 7 October that left 1,200 dead and 240 taken hostage.
The school-turned-shelter has become home to hundreds of displaced Palestinians fleeing the ongoing violence.
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.
He said that his job focuses on the psychological aspect, added 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 and noted that the interruption of aid leads to unimaginable suffering in shelters because people depend entirely on the aid provided by UNRWA.
Supervisor Inaam Rabeh agreed and emphasized that the aid supplies that arrive at the school are insufficient.
She warned that working to provide health and social services at the Deir Al-Balah centre to people with special needs and the elderly, dangers were on the rise.
Ms. Rabeh said 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.
The bombing and displacement affects UNRWA employees, the agency’s teams are still focused on providing relief in Gaza.
Over 150 UNRWA employees have been killed and dozens of the agency’s headquarters and warehouses destroyed in various parts of the Gaza Strip.
UNRWA is the main arm of humanitarian efforts in Gaza, the agency runs shelters housing more than 1 million people, providing them with necessary humanitarian relief and primary healthcare.
The agency said that 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 noted that number of donors suspended their funding to UNRWA last month.
The agency’s fired 9 employees due to the seriousness of the allegations and is currently investigating the matter.
UN Office of Internal Oversight Services is also investigating the allegations.
SG Antonio Guterres has appealed to governments that suspended their funding to UNRWA to reconsider and ensure the continuation of the agency’s critical operations.
UNRWA said that if funding for the agency not resumed, the agency said it will be forced to cease its operations across the region including Gaza by the end of February.
The agency serves 5.9 million Palestine refugees in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
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