UNRWA EXCEPTIONAL FOOD DISTRIBUTION REACHES OVER 15,000 NEEDY FAMILIES IN FIRST FEW DAYS
27 March 2015
UNRWA commenced an exceptional food distribution on 22 March as part of its continued early recovery response to the summer 2014 conflict. On the first day of distribution 3,302 families collected food parcels. Over the first four days a total of 15,299 parcels of flour, rice and oil, or approximately a third of the total number being distributed, were received by beneficiaries.
The exceptional distribution continues until 2 April and is expected to support the needs of approximately 47,000 families. It is aimed at ensuring sufficient access to food for refugees in Gaza and also serves to inject essential commodities into the local market.
Beneficiaries include newly separated families, those who have applied for food assistance but have not yet been visited, families previously classified as not poor before 2013 and pending results of a complaint and other vulnerable families identified.
The distribution comes in addition to the regular food assistance provided to approximately 868,000 refugees and the daily rations that UNRWA is providing to almost 8,000 internally displaced persons sheltering in 13 UNRWA Collective Centres across Gaza. Food parcels will be provided to eligible families via UNRWA’s twelve distribution centres for ten working days.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 100 million.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness
UNRWA Spokesperson
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 240 2659
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0267
Sami Mshasha
Chief of Communications & Arabic Language Spokesperson
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 216 8295
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0724
Milina Shahin
Public Information Officer – Gaza Field Office
Mobile:
+972 599 609 485
Office:
+972 8 2887213
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Armed conflict, Assistance, Food, Gaza Strip, Humanitarian relief, Internally displaced persons, Living conditions, Poverty, Refugees and displaced persons
Publication Date: 27/03/2015