Palestinians protest UNRWA aid cuts, downsizing plans

By Hidayah al-Saidi

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Dozens of Palestinians took part in a demonstration on Tuesday outside the headquarters of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA).

Held on an almost-daily basis, the demonstrations are intended to protest the UNRWA's plan to scale down its operations in Gaza and reduce the number of its employees.

Tuesday’s protest, organized by Gaza’s Joint Committee for Defending the Rights of Palestinian Refugees, saw people holding banners reading, “Refugees' rights are a red line” and “With our unity, we’ll obtain our rights”.

Mahmoud Khalaf, a leading member of the leftist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in a statement: “We warn UNRWA against its policy of sacking employees, reducing their salaries and threatening them with arbitrary dismissal.”

“The policies of the U.S. administration aim to terminate UNRWA’s operations, revealing its bias in favor of Israel,” Khalaf said.

He added: “U.S. President Donald Trump's call to end the refugee issue has paved the way for the death of UNRWA.”

In July, a UNRWA spokesman announced that the agency -- which continues to suffer from chronic funding shortfalls -- would not renew the contracts of more than 100 staff members in Gaza.

According to the UNRWA employees’ union, funding cuts have forced the agency to close its mental health program, which had provided direct services to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and had employed about 430 people.

UNRWA has also terminated the contracts of dozens of its engineers in recent months, union officials have said.

Late last month, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert announced that Washington would “no longer commit funding” to the refugee agency.

The U.S. had been UNRWA's largest contributor by far, providing it with $350 million annually -- roughly a quarter of its overall budget.

Established in 1949, UNRWA provides critical aid to Palestinian refugees in the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.