200,000 Palestinians to receive reduced cash assistance from United Nations

The Palestinians are facing a funding crisis in terms of assistance in providing basic services, emergency food aid and social support, according to the United Nations.

“Without new funding, the World Food Program will suspend cash assistance to approximately 200,000 Palestinians next week,” the Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wiensland, told the Security Council.

He said UNRWA – the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees – would not have the resources to provide basic services in September.

He warned of a decline in donor support and urged the international community to look for ways to increase support for the Palestinians.

“We will face serious humanitarian and perhaps security challenges. There is no time to lose,” he added.

The Gaza Strip has suffered for years from the Israeli blockade and bombing, which has pushed many residents below the poverty line and made 63% of its population in need of some form of humanitarian assistance. Some 2.1 million Palestinians, out of 5.3 million, need humanitarian aid, according to European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO). The European Union is the largest donor to the Palestinian Authority, disbursing $1.4 billion under the EU Common Strategy 2017-2020, and around $886 million in humanitarian aid since 2000.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency known as UNRWA was established to provide education, health care, food and other services to the 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes during the war surrounding the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.