For 74 years UNRWA – theUnited Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East – provides support to refugees and not only in an area of perennial crisis, that of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
But its difficulties – operational and economic – are increasingly serious. On the one hand, the Agency is expected to provide health, education, work and humanitarian assistance services to around 6 million people. On the other hand, funding is increasingly scarce. The United States under President Trump in 2018 completely stopped donations, resumed only after the arrival of Biden.
Whenever there is a crisis, such as the one in recent days with the Israeli bombing of Gaza, it becomes even more difficult or even impossible to provide essential services: in the Strip these days 300,000 children are without school and without health care.
Philippe Lazzarini, general commissioner of UNRWA spoke to Rainews24 about this and more.
