As part of its continued early recovery response to the summer 2014 conflict in Gaza, UNRWA is providing exceptional food parcels to approximately 47,000 families across the Strip. The distribution is an effort to help ensure sufficient access to food for people in Gaza and is timely as families struggle to make ends meet six months on from hostilities. It also serves to inject needed essential commodities into the local market.
The food parcels are of two varieties. The first, for families of 1-5 persons, consists of 30kgs of flour, 10kgs of rice and 3 litres of cooking oil. The second parcel is for families of six or more, and include 60kgs of flour, 20kgs of rice and 6 litres of oil.
The distribution is designed for those not already receiving regular food assistance from UNRWA, and excluding Agency employees. Recipients being targeted are those already considered most vulnerable in the current climate of chronic unemployment and refugee families struggling to rebuild their homes and lives.
Eligible families have been identified through the existing database maintained by UNRWA. These include newly separated families, those who have applied for food assistance but have not yet been visited, families previously classified as not poor before 2013 and pending results of a complaint and other vulnerable families identified. Those who think they are eligible will be required to bring their ID card, driver’s license or passport, with their Refugee Registration Card to UNRWA Distribution Centres for verification before receiving a food parcel. IDs will be checked against a database list of eligible family names.
In an effort to maintain accuracy in the provision of food assistance to poor families, UNRWA is assessing the poverty status of refugee families on a regular basis. Channeling food assistance to the poorest of the poor only and in accordance with families’ most updated poverty status is absolutely essential to ensure fairness and equity among beneficiaries.
Food parcels will be provided to eligible families via the twelve UNRWA distribution centres between 08:00 and 15:00, commencing today and for the next ten working days, excluding Fridays and Saturdays. The daily hours may be extended if needed.
“UNRWA recognizes that thousands of families in Gaza are struggling to make ends meet, after the devastating conflict last summer. We also understand that life in Gaza remains precarious and unpredictable,” said Mr Scott Anderson, Deputy Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza. “Whilst we continue our regular food assistance to 868,000 refugees, we also have a responsibility to do what we can to meet the basic needs of most vulnerable refugees who have applied but are yet to be processed or included on that list.”
The distribution also comes in addition to the food assistance that UNRWA is providing daily to almost 8,000 internally displaced persons sheltering in 14 UNRWA Collective Centres across Gaza. Families currently taking refuge in these Centres, and already receiving daily rations from UNRWA are not eligible for the new food parcels.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at US$ 100 million.
For more information, please contact:
Milina Shahin
Public Information Officer - Gaza Field Office
Mobile:
+972 599 609 485
Office:
+972 8 2887213
m.shahin2@unrwa.org