Palestinian refugees in Gaza protest UNRWA cuts

Ashraf Shannon
Press TV, Gaza

Palestinian refugees in the blockaded Gaza Strip demonstrated in front UNRWA aid distribution centers against cuts to vital services and assistance by the UN agency.

UNRWA provides education, health and welfare services to millions of Palestinian refugees in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem al-Quds ,the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

As of Sunday UNRWA implemented further aid cuts to Palestinian refugees citing budget deficit, but Palestinians maintain that cuts are merely political.

The Israeli regime has been campaigning to defund the UN agency in an attempt to end the refugees’ right of return. The crisis deepened after former US president Donald Trump decided to cancel funding to UNRWA in 2018.

The vast majority of Gazans are refugees who were kicked out of their towns and villages upon the establishment of the Israeli regime in 1948.

Palestinian refugees who suffered for more than seven decades say UNRWA cuts will only increase their plight amid the Coronavirus pandemic. Over 1.3 million Palestinian refugees live in the Gaza Strip and their hardships have increased under the Israeli blockade.

Palestinian refugees say that as long as they are displaced and dispossessed, UNRWA should provide them with all due services without any cuts.

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