Gaza-based staff from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestine refugees have been on a general strike for the second day protesting employee downsizing and the suspension of multiple services.
UNRWA staff members announced a general strike in all educational health and relief institutions and all UNRWA facilities to protest the agency’s downsizing measures and their failure to meet employees’ demands.
UNRWA employees’ union in Gaza said the strike will continue until Wednesday.
Over recent months UNRWA — which continues to suffer from chronic funding shortfalls — said it would not renew the contracts of dozens of staff members in Gaza.
According to the employees’ union funding cuts have forced the agency to suspend multiple relief programs which had provided direct services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and had employed hundreds of people.
Late in August the U.S. announced that Washington would “no longer commit funding” to the refugee agency.
Established in 1949 UNRWA provides critical aid to Palestinian refugees in the blockaded Gaza Strip the Israeli-occupied West Bank Jordan Lebanon and Syria.
