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UNRWA in Gaza Between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, Israel conducted a large scale military operation in Gaza, codenamed Operation Cast Lead. The most destructive military assault in Gaza’s history, it resulted in the death of over 1,400 Palestinians and more than 5,000 injuries and widespread destruction of public and private property, infrastructure and productive assets. Tens of thousands lost homes and livelihoods in the bombardment and subsequent ground force invasion. Thirteen Israelis were killed, including three civilians, and 518, including 182 civilians, were injured during the IDF operation. The assault followed an 18-month blockade of Gaza’s borders which was imposed after Hamas’s takeover of Gaza in mid-2007, and which was itself an extreme manifestation of a policy of access and movement restrictions that the Israeli Government has imposed upon Palestinians in the oPt since the early 1990s. The closures had crippled the private sector, leading to unprecedented levels of poverty and hardship amongst Gaza’s 1,500,000 residents, around two thirds of whom are refugees. The months since the end of Operation Cast Lead have seen little real relaxation of the closure regime, stymieing national and international recovery and reconstruction efforts and limiting the ability of aid agencies to shift from emergency relief towards more sustainable interventions. Although flash relief programmes kept Gaza from total collapse in the immediate aftermath of the onslaught, the humanitarian situation of the one million refugees in Gaza remains precarious. Funds donated to UNRWA earlier in the year have been largely exhausted and UNRWA is compelled to appeal for fresh funds to allow it to continue to support refugees moving forward into the Winter season.
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