UNRWA United Nations Relief and Works Agency

Employees of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and their families protest against job cuts announced by the agency outside its offices in Gaza City on July 31, 2018. (AFP Photo/Said Khatib)

November 28, 2018, 3:52 pm

Saudi Arabia pledges $50 million to UN Palestinian refugee agency

UNRWA chief says agency, criticized by US for perpetuating refugee problem, is successfully tackling budget crisis following Trump cessation of funding

By AFP and TOI staff

November 19, 2018, 8:59 pm

UNRWA says budget shortfall down to $21 million after Gulf, EU pony up

‘This is a very encouraging result at the end of a lot of work,’ says head of UN body accused by Israel and US of perpetuating Palestinian refugee problem

By AFP and TOI staff

A Palestinian man transports bags of flour outside an aid distribution center run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip ,on September 4, 2018. (Said Khatib/AFP)

November 15, 2018, 7:16 pm

UN Palestinian refugee agency says it’s overcoming Trump funding cuts

UNRWA chief Pierre Kraehenbuehl: Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE upped support to $50 million each, European Union also contributed

By AFP and TOI staff

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, center right, arrives for a tour in the East Jerusalem neighborhoods of Beit Hanina and Shuafat. October 22, 2014. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

October 24, 2018, 10:44 am

Jerusalem mayor makes rare visit to East Jerusalem refugee camp

Nir Barkat walks the streets of Shuafat, meets city sanitation workers who enter Palestinian neighborhood for the first time, as part of plan to replace UNRWA in capital

By TOI staff

A Jerusalem municipality vehicle operates in the Shuafat refugee camp on October 23, 2018. (Jerusalem municipality)

October 24, 2018, 12:35 am

Jerusalem provides first ever municipal waste removal services to Shuafat camp

City sanitation workers enter Palestinian refugee camp as part of outgoing Mayor Barkat’s plan to replace UNRWA and oust it from capital

By TOI staff

October 13, 2018, 11:11 pm

Canada pledges $38 million to Palestinian refugee agency defunded by Trump

Contribution mostly earmarked for UNRWA’s health and education programs, but Ottawa says some funds allocated to ‘improve neutrality within the agency’

By TOI staff

Peter Mulrean participating in a UN conference in Geneva on October 1, 2012. (US Mission Geneva)

October 9, 2018, 6:03 am

Top UNRWA official says he champions both Israel and Palestinian refugees

As a US diplomat, Peter Mulrean fought anti-Israel bias at the UN; today, he defends his agency against the draconian cuts of his former employer

By Raphael Ahren

Pupils gather in front of a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA in Gaza City on August 29, 2018, on the first day of classes after the summer holidays. (AFP Photo/Mahmud Hams)

October 8, 2018, 2:56 pm

The path to peace begins in the classroom

UNRWA indoctrinates Palestinian kids into the culture of hate that calls a terror attack against Israelis a ‘barbecue party’

By Deborah Singer Soffen and Joan Lurie Goldberg

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Jerusalem, February 27, 2018. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov)

October 8, 2018, 1:14 am

Jerusalem mayor says plan to boot UNRWA out of capital will boost equality

Nir Barkat inspired by US move to cut funding, says UN refugee agency perpetuates inequality; ‘There’s no such thing as residents in Jerusalem that are defined as refugees’

By Josef Federman

Illustrative image of Palestinian schoolgirls in their small playground in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Shuafat, on March 30, 2016. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

October 6, 2018, 4:50 pm

UN Palestinian refugee agency vows to maintain East Jerusalem services

UNRWA’s pledge to maintain healthcare and other services comes days after outgoing mayor laid out plan to oust organization from city

By AP and TOI staff

October 4, 2018, 10:07 pm

Outgoing Jerusalem mayor lays out plan to oust UNRWA from city

Nir Barkat wants to replace UN agency services to 20,000 residents of capital’s Shuafat refugee camp with municipal provisions

By TOI staff

Husam Zomlot, the former Palestinian envoy to Washington, reviews papers in Washington, DC, February 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

October 4, 2018, 12:42 am

PLO envoy: Palestinians believe UK can play leading role in achieving peace

Husam Zomlot, new head of PLO mission to the UK who was booted from DC, also praises London for its principled positions on Jerusalem and UNRWA

By TOI staff

Palestinian employees of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a protest against job cuts by UNRWA, in Gaza City, on September 19, 2018. (AFP / SAID KHATIB)

October 3, 2018, 1:25 pm

Blocked in a car by a mob, kept from their HQ: Why UNRWA staff had to flee Gaza

Angry crowds have stopped staff from getting to work for days, says agency’s Gaza chief, but it got worse when ‘threatening’ protesters surrounded a car with 5 employees

By Adam Rasgon

Palestinian employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) take part in a sit in, in front of the agency's headquarters in Gaza City on October 2, 2018, to protest against job cuts announced by the UNRWA. (AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB)

October 2, 2018, 9:33 pm

UN workers strike in Gaza to protest layoffs amid funding woes

Hundreds of local UNRWA staff fired as agency grapples with budget crisis after US defunding

By TOI staff and AFP

A Palestinian woman walks past a closed health center that run by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) during a strike of all UNRWA institutions in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on September 24, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB)

October 1, 2018, 3:46 pm

UNRWA evacuates most international staff from Gaza to Israel amid death threats

Officials of UN’s Palestinian refugee agency rushed to safety through a closed checkpoint after harassment from employees

By TOI staff and AFP