Unrwa provides lifeline to millions of displaced Palestinian refugees

• Published date: 28 March 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

During times of war and trauma, Unrwa also provides personal security and psychological support for children and adults. Despite Israeli pressure to dismantle Unrwa –claiming it perpetuates the refugee problem – the agency is an indispensable institution for Palestinians and cannot be replaced by a collective of specialised aid groups such as the World Food Programme or World Health Organisation

With war raging in Gaza, Unrwa is supplying food aid to 1.2 million of the strip’s 2.3 million Palestinians, while 1.9 million displaced Gazans are residing in 154 Unrwa schools or nearby.

Since March 22nd, Israel has denied Unrwa food convoys access to northern Gaza, where 300,000 people have remained.

Founded in December 1949 to care for more than 700,000 Palestinians forced to flee their homes during Israel’s 1948 war of establishment, Unrwa has survived one conflict after another in the Palestinian territories as well as wars in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, which are host countries to Palestinians.

Today, the Unrwa quasi-state has a population of 5.9 million registered citizens, including the original refugees and their descendants. In its five areas of operations, Unrwa runs 58 camps, sheltering about a third of the refugees, and employs 30,000 staff, two-thirds of whom are teachers, as education is the agency’s consuming task. Unrwa operates 706 schools with 543,000 students, and 140 primary...