Speaking in Amman at the bi-annual meeting of UNRWA’s Advisory Commission, Grandi said that more than half of the 530,000 Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA in Syria are believed to be displaced; 15% of all refugees have fled abroad, including over 60,000 to overburdened Lebanon, which already hosts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, and over 7,000 to Jordan”. According to Grandi, “even Egypt now hosts many Palestine refugees from Syria, and some have reached Gaza”.

UNRWA has joined the United Nations’ recent appeal for fresh funds to respond to the Syria crisis for the remainder of the year. The Agency is asking donors for a total of US$ 200m for its Syria-related emergency activities.

Commenting on UNRWA’s General Fund (GF) for core services, Grandi described the current financial situation as “challenging”. “While stringent austerity measures remain in place, the projected 2013 shortfall stands at US$ 65m, and for the time being cash flow will sustain UNRWA only through October. The struggle to bridge the gap will be more intense because internal financial management has been tightened almost to breaking point”, said Grandi.

He concluded, that “the distress of Palestine refugees in Syria and displaced from Syria has given the lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process an added, and very stark dimension. For refugees, this might well be another tragic turning point. They feel it very strongly. Because across the lands of their painful and protracted exile, Palestinians are connected to each other by their history, their present and their future. The loss of camps in Syria and the uncertainty that it has wrought, are suffered by all, just as the bombardments in Gaza.”

As of 5 June 2013, UNRWA has recorded 1,820 families of Palestinian refugees from Syria as being of concern to the Agency. Currently, 197 Palestinians reside in Cyber City Refugee Camp, the government-appointed facility in the Irbid governorate of Jordan.

The rebels, fighting to topple President Bashar Assad, took full control of Yarmouk camp on Monday, according to rebel sources while Syrian military have surrounded the camp.

There were no Syrian government troops in the camp and most of the fighting was between rebels and PFLP-GC gunmen, residents said, according to Reuters.

The group is led by Ahmed Jibril, Assad’s longtime ally. Many PFLP-GC fighters defected to the rebel side and their leader Ahmed Jibril left the camp three days ago to the city of Tartous, according to media reports.

The offensive in the Palestinian refugee camp of Yarmouk in southern Damascus is aimed at driving the pro-government Palestinian gunmen out of the camp.

On Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said the clashes were triggered by the al Qaeda associated Jabhat al-Nusra group, which was labeled by the US as a terrorist organisation last week.

Meanwhile, many residents on Monday fled the area to Lebnanon, according to the UNWRA.

“As the Syria conflict and its impact on civilians continue to escalate, UNRWA is exerting all efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs of Palestine refugees. Over the past several days, Syrians and the over 150,000 Palestine refugee resident in Yarmouk, a suburb of Damascus, have experienced particularly intense armed engagements involving the use of heavy weapons and aircraft,” UNRWA warned.

“Palestine refugees are also fleeing beyond Damascus. Although the scale and direction of this movement cannot be precisely determined, some have made their way to Lebanon. Initial reports indicate that well over 2,000 people have attempted or are attempting to flee the country.”

The opposition says more than 40,000 people have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in March last year.

The deaths resulted from a rocket hitting a mosque in the camp, where refugees had been sheltering from other fighting in nearby suburbs of Damascus, Reuters reported citing activists.

The incident was the first reported aerial attack on the camp since the revolt against President Bashar Assad erupted in 2011.

Syria is the home of more that 500,000 Palestinian refugees, most of them living in Yarmouk. It is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria.

Yarmouk was established in 1957. It occupies an area of 2.1 square kilometers to accommodate refugees who were scattering in mosques, schools and other public places.

Many of the refugees in Yarmouk are professional, working as doctors, engineers and civil servants. Others are employed as casual laborers and street vendors. Overall, living conditions in Yarmouk are far better than those of the other Palestine refugee camps in Syria.

Heavy fighting in the camp broke out 12 days ago between Palestinians loyal to Assad and Syrian rebels. The fighting intensified on Saturday with rebels gaining ground inside the camp, forcing Ahmed Jibril, a veteran leader of a Damascus-based Palestinian faction that back Assad to leave the capital with his son, according to Maan News.

According to reports, Ahmed Jibril and his son have left Yarmouk, located in the Taqaddum neighborhood in southern Damascus, for the country’s Mediterranean city of Tartous.

Jibril’s PFLP-GC has maintained strong ties to Assad throughout the uprising, unlike Hamas whose Damascus-based officials quietly pulled out of Syria a few months ago.

In a related development, Alaeddin al-Sabbagh, former head of public relations in the Syrian intelligence, has announced his defection.

He made the announcement while speaking to Al Jazeera on Sunday. He called Assad’s regime a “clinically dead” one.