{"id":139951,"date":"2018-06-05T16:43:31","date_gmt":"2018-06-05T16:43:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=139951"},"modified":"2018-06-05T12:43:31","modified_gmt":"2018-06-05T16:43:31","slug":"first-unrwa-convoy-in-two-years-reaches-palestine-refugees-in-the-damascus-suburb-of-yalda-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/first-unrwa-convoy-in-two-years-reaches-palestine-refugees-in-the-damascus-suburb-of-yalda-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"First UNRWA Convoy in Two Years Reaches Palestine Refugees in the Damascus Suburb of Yalda – Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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05 June 2018<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\"\u00a92018<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a92018 UNRWA Photo by Laura Sunnen<\/strong><\/h6>\n
\u00a0An UNRWA convoy has delivered life-saving aid to Palestine refugees and vulnerable Syrians displaced from the destroyed Yarmouk unofficial refugee camp in Damascus to the nearby neighbourhood of Yalda.\u00a0 UNRWA resumed access to the area for the first time since 25 May 2016 and reached those displaced by the recent fighting in Yarmouk with emergency assistance, including medicine and food.\u00a0 The convoy, which included a mobile UNRWA health clinic, consisted of 18 truckloads.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mr. Mohamed Abdi Adar, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Syria said: “These refugees had already suffered untold hardship because of years of besiegement and hostilities and then late April, intensified fighting in Yarmouk further destroyed many homes, displacing thousands. The traumas of war, combined with desperation and fear are taking an enormous toll, particularly on the children.\u00a0 This assistance will give them a life line and help meet their urgent humanitarian needs. But more must be done in the longer term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UNRWA team today distributed\u00a0 food parcels, hygiene kits, kitchen sets, mattresses, mats, blankets and jerry cans to 614 families (approx. 2,500 individuals) in Yalda. Cleaning items and tarpaulins were also provided to a shelter hosting 65 families in the area. Our health staff also provided treatment to 200 patients in Yalda today and recorded critical health needs. The medical treatment and aid distributions will continue tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis work highlights the need to address the severe underfunding in UNRWA\u2019s Emergency Appeal for Palestine refugees in Syria,\u201d said Mohamed Abdi Adar. \u201cAcross Syria, we are providing urgent humanitarian assistance including food, healthcare and cash to hundreds of thousands of Palestine refugees and yet the Syria portion of the Emergency Appeal is less than 5% funded. He added \u201cwe have already had to reduce our emergency cash assistance in Syria from 64 US$ to 46 US$ covering a 2 month period and unless the donor community responds rapidly, there will be further reductions of these life-saving services. That could prove catastrophic for hundreds of thousands of people\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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UNRWA is confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs. As a result, the UNRWA programme budget, which supports the delivery of core essential services, operates with a large shortfall. UNRWA encourages all Member States to work collectively to exert all possible efforts to fully fund the Agency\u2019s programme budget. UNRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large shortfalls, are funded through separate funding portals.<\/p>\n

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.4 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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For more information, please contact:<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Christopher Gunness<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Spokesperson, Director of Advocacy & Strategic Communications<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mobile:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)54 240 2659<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Office:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)2 589 0267<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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c.gunness@unrwa.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Sami Mshasha<\/b><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Chief of Communications, Arabic Language Spokesperson<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Mobile:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)54 216 8295<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Office:<\/div>\n
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+972 (0)258 90724<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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s.mshasha@unrwa.org<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

05 June 2018 \u00a92018 UNRWA Photo by Laura Sunnen \u00a0An UNRWA convoy has delivered life-saving aid to Palestine refugees and vulnerable Syrians displaced from the destroyed Yarmouk unofficial refugee camp in Damascus to the nearby neighbourhood of Yalda.\u00a0 UNRWA resumed access to the area for the first time since 25 May 2016 and reached those […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":172,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[2241],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1745],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-139951","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-syria","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/139951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/139951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=139951"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=139951"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=139951"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=139951"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=139951"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=139951"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=139951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}