The “worst financial crisis” ever faced by the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees could lead to “disaster” in the Gaza Strip and insecurity in Lebanon, the organization’s chief has warned.
Founded in 1949, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) runs schools and provides health services as well as other humanitarian aid to an estimated 5.7 million Palestinians with refugee status.
“It is in the interest of no one to see schools suddenly suspended… health services being suspended, at a time when people are hit by the [coronavirus] pandemic,” the agency’s chief Philippe Lazzarini tells AFP.
UNRWA head Philippe Lazzarini (YouTube screenshot)
“It would be a total disaster,” he adds.
Last week, Lazzarini announced that UNRWA faced a $70 million funding shortfall.
— AFP
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