The UAE Red Crescent Authority has positively responded to UNRWA’s appeal to support conflict-affected Palestinian refugees caught up in the conflict in Syria.

With a generous donation of US$ 500,000, UNRWA will provide food to approximately 40,561 Palestinian refugees (over 10,000 families) and hygiene kits to an estimated 3,915 vulnerable adults and babies. The locations of the distribution will be in conflict-affected areas and in UNRWA facilities sheltering internally displaced Palestinian refugees.

Since March 2011, UNRWA has distributed 35,273 food parcels, over 41,000 winter items such as blankets and mattresses, 2,829 hygiene kits and cash assistance to approximately 73,076 families.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi welcoming the contribution, saying: “We are grateful to our consistent partner the UAE Red Crescent Authority for this donation. It will be of very direct benefit to Palestinian refugees caught up in the Syrian maelstrom. We calculate that about half of the more than 500,000 Palestinians in Syria have had to move from their houses. That is a frightening statistic.”

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.