UNRWA staff in the Gaza Strip staged a general strike on Tuesday in protest at the agency’s decisions to scale down its services and lay off hundreds of employees.
Head of the Union of Arab Employees in UNRWA Ameer al-Meshal said in press statements that the two-day strike includes all UNRWA institutions in the Gaza Strip.
The strike came in response to a decision by the union after negotiations with the UNRWA administration about mass job cuts came to a standstill and after the UN agency decided to wage a series of punitive measures against the employees taking part in the ongoing protests.
UNRWA is suffering from a serious financial crisis that followed Washington’s decision to freeze $300 million of its $365-million aid to the agency.
UNRWA had decided to end the contracts of over 250 employees working for emergency programs in Gaza and the West Bank and to force about 900 employees into part-time jobs until the end of 2018.
UNRWA Employees Union in Gaza said in a previous statement that nearly 1000 employees are threatened with dismissal.
The agency was established by a UN General Assembly resolution in 1949 to protect and help Palestinian refugees in Jordan Syria Lebanon West Bank and Gaza Strip.
