If Funding Gap Not Plugged
Palestinian Schools, Health Centers at Risk
NEW YORK (Dispatches) – A UN agency that supports Palestinian refugees said schools and health centers are at risk if it is unable to plug a $185 million funding gap needed to keep operating until the end of the year, the agency’s head says.
"Currently we have money in the bank ... will last I presume somewhere into ... mid October,” said Pierre Krahenbuhl, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in New York, where world leaders are attending the annual UN General Assembly.
"But it’s clear that we still need approximately $185 million to be able to ensure that all of our services, education system, health care, relief and social services and our emergency work in Syria and Gaza in particular can continue until the end of the year,” Krahenbuhl said.
The United States last month announced a halt in its aid to UNRWA, calling it an "irredeemably flawed operation”, a decision that further heightened tensions between the Palestinian leadership and the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has raised alarm at the deteriorating economic situation in the Gaza Strip amid a crippling Zionist blockade, calling for immediate global action to prevent the "economic collapse” of the Palestinian coastal enclave.
In a report, the Washington-based international financial institution highlighted the critical challenges facing Gaza’s economy, among them a negative growth rate and an unemployment rate of over 70 percent for the youth.
"The economy in Gaza is collapsing, suffering from a decade long blockade and a recent drying up of liquidity, with aid flows no longer enough to stimulate growth,” the report said.
It also enumerated several factors which have contributed to the deterioration of the Gaza economy, especially the Israeli siege on the coastal sliver and the US decision to stop funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The administration of President Donald Trump has decided to cancel all US financial aid to the United Nations aid program for Palestinian refugees.
"Gaza’s economy is in free fall, marking minus 6 percent growth in the first quarter of 2018 with indications of further deterioration since then,” the report said.
"While the decade long blockade is the core issue, a combination of factors has more recently impacted the situation in Gaza; including the decision of the Palestinian Authority to reduce the monthly payments by 30 million to the area, the winding down of the $50-60 million per year of the US Government aid program, and the cuts to the UNRWA program,” it added.
A Palestinian man stands in front of the emblem of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outside the agency’s offices in Gaza on July 31, 2018.
"Currently we have money in the bank ... will last I presume somewhere into ... mid October,” said Pierre Krahenbuhl, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in New York, where world leaders are attending the annual UN General Assembly.
"But it’s clear that we still need approximately $185 million to be able to ensure that all of our services, education system, health care, relief and social services and our emergency work in Syria and Gaza in particular can continue until the end of the year,” Krahenbuhl said.
The United States last month announced a halt in its aid to UNRWA, calling it an "irredeemably flawed operation”, a decision that further heightened tensions between the Palestinian leadership and the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, the World Bank has raised alarm at the deteriorating economic situation in the Gaza Strip amid a crippling Zionist blockade, calling for immediate global action to prevent the "economic collapse” of the Palestinian coastal enclave.
In a report, the Washington-based international financial institution highlighted the critical challenges facing Gaza’s economy, among them a negative growth rate and an unemployment rate of over 70 percent for the youth.
"The economy in Gaza is collapsing, suffering from a decade long blockade and a recent drying up of liquidity, with aid flows no longer enough to stimulate growth,” the report said.
It also enumerated several factors which have contributed to the deterioration of the Gaza economy, especially the Israeli siege on the coastal sliver and the US decision to stop funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
The administration of President Donald Trump has decided to cancel all US financial aid to the United Nations aid program for Palestinian refugees.
"Gaza’s economy is in free fall, marking minus 6 percent growth in the first quarter of 2018 with indications of further deterioration since then,” the report said.
"While the decade long blockade is the core issue, a combination of factors has more recently impacted the situation in Gaza; including the decision of the Palestinian Authority to reduce the monthly payments by 30 million to the area, the winding down of the $50-60 million per year of the US Government aid program, and the cuts to the UNRWA program,” it added.
A Palestinian man stands in front of the emblem of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) outside the agency’s offices in Gaza on July 31, 2018.