GAZA, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hundreds of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip joined on Wednesday several protests against the reduction of services decided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine organized the protests in front of UNRWA's food distribution centers in several refugee camps in the besieged Gaza Strip, home of over 2 million Palestinians.
The demonstrators, who joined the anti-UNRWA protests, are all refugees. They presented a letter to the Director of UNRWA operations in Palestine, Matthias Schmale, to express their rejection to the agency's service reduction.
"UNRWA should stop manipulating the humanitarian aid that it provides to the Palestinian refugees without making field visits to refugees' homes, and re-study their living conditions," said the letter of the demonstrators.
It also called for re-opening the social centers in the refugee camps that had been closed since March "to register the newly born babies and cash financial support for the refugees affected by the coronavirus."
On Monday, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of UNRWA, warned that the funding gap of 130 million U.S. dollars the organization is experiencing threatens the core services and programs provided to the refugees.
UNRWA provides humanitarian services, including food and healthcare, to 5.6 million Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip.
Earlier on Wednesday, a senior Palestinian official warned of "catastrophic consequences" on the Middle East Region if the financial crisis of UNRWA continues.
Ahmed Abu Holi, chairman of refugees' affairs in Palestine Liberation Organization, said in a press statement that UNRWA has been challenging a real and severe danger that would stop all of its services amid its financial crisis. Enditem
