The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) has received $118 million from a number of countries to help in upholding its essential services.
UNRWA’s spokesman Sami Mashasha said a meeting which was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in support of the UNRWA under the sponsorship of Turkey Japan Sweden Jordan and the European Union culminated in pledges for allocating further essential funding to the UNRWA.
The European Union Germany Norway Ireland and Kuwait reportedly stepped in this week to donate a total of $118 million in financing to agency after the United States cut $304 million of its annual support for this year.
The new contributions formally committed on Sept. 27 at a luncheon held during the UN General Assembly annual debate leaves Unrwa with a $68 million gap.
The new pledges do not ensure the viability of Unrwa beyond this year but alleviate some of the major current problems including educating the millions of Palestinian children who attend schools paid for by the agency and have returned to their classes this month. The lack of money for schools has been considered a serious fallout from the US defunding.
On Thursday the union of UNRWA staff members rallied outside the agency’s office in Gaza to protest eliminating hundreds of employees due to financial shortage.
