Some 210000 Palestine refugees (180000 Palestine refugees from Lebanon and 30000 Palestine refugees from Syria) live in 12 official refugee camps in Lebanon amid very difficult living conditions.
According to the latest UNRWA survey 93 per cent of all Palestine refugees in Lebanon are poor.
Unprecedented levels of poverty skyrocketing unemployment rates and increasing despair are spreading across Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
With the advent of winter the situation seems to be getting worse.
Things are worse during winter
In this regard the Director General of Commission 302 for Defending the Rights of Refugees Ali Huwaidi pointed out that the refugee camps have major infrastructure problems and any storm flooding brings misery to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Speaking to the PIC reporter he stressed that the refugee camps are not able to handle the load of heavy rain and consequently the streets and ground floor level of shops and dwellings are flooded during the winter.
On the other hand he pointed out that 60 Palestinian refugees died of electric shock drowning over the past ten years due to the poor electric and water infrastructure.
Huwaidi said that Palestinian refugees face difficulties to reach their workplaces or schools during winter as roads are cut off by flooding and pools of water formed in major underpasses.
He further quoted a 2015 UNRWA report as saying that nearly one-third of the registered Palestine refugees suffer from chronic diseases such as asthma high blood pressure and diabetes.
Although the challenges that Palestinians face are the same in all camps refugees in Beqaa suffer additionally from the heating issue every winter he told the PIC reporter.
Fuel is considered to be the main source of heating for refugees especially with the lack of electricity. However it is difficult for them to afford fuel needed for heating due to its high cost in light of the economic crisis.
In addition to the heating problem Palestinian refugees are also suffering from lack of winter clothing and blankets he added.
UNRWA is responsible
Huwaidi charged that UNRWA is directly responsible for providing the Palestinian refugees a dignified life and thus is responsible for supplying families with fuel that is necessary for heating.
However the UN agency kept distributing fuel oil to a number of families among the Palestinian refugees but in insufficient quantities which did not reach the minimum amount needed for heating throughout the winter.
