UN aid agency runs out of funds to aid Palestinian families

The main United Nations aid agency in the Gaza Strip has said a lack of international funding had forced it to suspend payments to tens of thousands of Palestinians for repairs to homes damaged in last summer’s war.

“People are literally sleeping amongst the rubble, children have died of hypothermia,” Robert Turner, Gaza director of operations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, said in a statement.

He said the agency received only $135 million of the $720 million pledged by donors to its cash assistance programme for 96,000 refugee families whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the 50-day conflict between the Hamas Islamist movement and Israel.

So far, he said, the agency has provided more than $77 million to 66,000 families to repair their homes or find temporary alternatives, but now due to a lack of funds the agency “has been forced to suspend its cash assistance programme”.– (Reuters)