US assistance for Palestinians in Syria

United States Announces Additional Humanitarian Assistance for Palestinians in Syria

Media Note
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
April 27, 2015

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In response to the devastating crisis in Yarmouk, Ambassador Samantha Power, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, announced April 24 that the United States is providing an additional $6 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

This contribution will go toward the Yarmouk Emergency Call for Funds to provide urgent aid, reinforcing our support for not only those trapped in Yarmouk, but all Palestinian refugees and Syrian civilians for whom UNRWA provides a life-line. Yarmouk has been under siege by regime forces since mid-2013, and as many as 18,000 civilians remain there, 3,500 of whom are children. Throughout this siege, including the recent takeover of the neighborhood by ISIL, civilians have experienced severe restrictions on food, medicine, clean water, and electricity that have left the population on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The United States remains committed to addressing the needs of the Palestinian people, and this funding comes in addition to the more than $57 million in humanitarian assistance the United States Government has provided UNRWA’s Syria crisis response in 2015, bringing total U.S. contributions to over $63 million.

The United States has committed nearly $3.7 billion in humanitarian assistance to address the needs of the Syrian people since 2011.

ENDS

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