In a statement on Tuesday, UNRWA Spokesman Sami Mshasha said the agency was determined to maintain its core services to the millions of Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territories and Syria, and would maintain, as far as possible, emergency assistance.
He noted that emergency assistance was severely underfunded in the occupied Palestinian territories, "as US donations for emergency programs (about $100 million a year) no longer exist, forcing us to take certain measures to deal with the situation."
He added that a limited number of local and international employees would be affected by the new measures.
UNRWA has announced that it would maintain the main services provided to Palestinian refugees, but would cancel various programs in the West Bank and reduce them in the Gaza Strip, in the first official response to accusations against the UN agency about sacking hundreds of employees.
In the Gaza Strip, the international agency would continue its emergency food program and would maintains certain activities, such as money for work, with amendments to the community mental healthprogram and the job creation program, according to the spokesman.
On Monday, hundreds of UNRWA staff surrounded the office of Gaza’s director of operations, Matthias Shamali, and prevented him from leaving, protesting the new measures.
“UNRWA should find a solution to its financial problems that doesn’t involve sacking employees,” Amir al-Mishal of the UNRWA Employees Union in Gaza said at the protest.
