Gaza humanitarian update – Daily press briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for SecGen (excerpts)

/…

** Gaza Humanitarian Update

According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the situation in Gaza continues to be very difficult.  Last month, 2,400 trucks entered the Gaza Strip.  That’s down from the more than 10,000 trucks that entered in March 2007.  In addition, a scarcity of animal feed is causing meat prices to skyrocket.

In related news, UNRWA has been providing more than 110,000 litres of diesel to municipalities each month for solid waste management.  But the lack of electricity often forces coastal municipalities to dump their sewage into the sea.  UNRWA also reports that it has had to expand its school feeding programme.  It is now feeding some 110,000 Gazan children in around 110 schools every day.

** Lebanon

UNRWA just inaugurated 150 new units of concrete housing in Lebanon.  The houses will provide shelter for more than 100 families near the Nahr El Bared Camp, which was destroyed by fighting last year.  The new housing lowers the pressure on the nearby Beddawi Camp, where refugees from Nahr El Bared had previously fled.

Rebuilding Nahr El Bared, which is home to some 30,000 refugees, will cost more than $200 million and is the biggest single project that UNRWA has even undertaken.

/…