Un Agency Appeals For Emergency Funding For Gaza
Un Agency Appeals For Emergency Funding For Gaza
With
70 per cent of Gazans relying on food aid, the main United
Nations humanitarian agency for Palestinian refugees is
calling on donors to fund its emergency appeal, which it has
already almost doubled to over $170 million to feed 900,000
people in light of the current humanitarian crisis.
For someone not living in the Gaza Strip, daily life
today is hard to imagine, the UN Relief and Work Agency
(<"http://www.un.org/unrwa/emergency/appeals/SonicBooms.html">UNRWA)
said in its latest update on the Gaza Strip following the
outbreak of renewed fighting between Israel and Palestinian
militants.
Sonic booms shatter the night
skies, making sleep all but impossible. Waking in the
morning, mothers cannot prepare breakfasts, nor children
shower and wash - there is so little water. Leaving home,
children find the streets and alleys en route to schools
strewn with sewage. Delivery of water and maintenance of
sewage disposal is dependent upon electricity – a sporadic
commodity these days.”
UNRWA increased its
2006 emergency appeal from just over $95 million earlier
this year after Israel stopped the transfer of Palestinian
value added taxes (VAT) and other countries suspended
contributions to the Palestinian Authority (PA) following
the Hamas election victory in January.
Israel
and international donors are insisting that Hamas must
commit itself to principles of non-violence, recognize
Israels right to exit, and accept previous agreements and
obligations, including the UN-backed Roadmap plan providing
for two states living side by side in peace.
With crossings into Gaza from the outside world
closed for most of the past two weeks, food prices for
staples have increased more than 10 per cent, UNRWA said.
Family breadwinners, many unemployed for months and without
savings, have no choice but to turn to international aid
agencies such as UNRWA to put food on the table.
Seventy per cent of Gazans now rely on food
assistance. UNRWA is providing the basics flour, rice, oil,
sugar, beans and whole milk - to 900,000 individuals, it
added.
Overall, UN agencies, including UNRWA,
have raised the 2006 Consolidated Appeal for the occupied
Palestinian territory by 80 per cent, from the originally
budgeted $215 million to $385 million.
Ends