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Foreword by the directors of UNRWA affairs in Gaza and the West Bank
As the Directors of UNRWA Affairs in Gaza and the West Bank we are submitting this Emergency Appeal for 2023 that outlines the minimum assistance required to mitigate the worst effects of the humanitarian situation for over a million vulnerable Palestine refugees in the occupied Palestinian territory. While the conditions and challenges in Gaza and the West Bank are quite different, the overall situation throughout the occupied Palestinian territory is deteriorating with no indication that conditions will improve in 2023.
The situation in Gaza is critical. After 15-years of blockade, poverty rates in the Palestine refugee community, who make up the majority of Gaza's population, are at around 81.5 per cent. The per capita GDP of Gaza is now three to four times lower than in neighbouring countries. This dire situation has been compounded by repeated cycles of hostilities, heightened tensions and violence, political instability, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, these factors have destabilised the lives of individuals and communities and have further increased the hardships they are facing. Having witnessed death and injury and damage or loss of property caused by four major rounds of violence over the past 16 years, many Gazans – especially children – exhibit signs of trauma.
Gaza is on ‘life support’ with 80 per cent of the population dependent on humanitarian assistance. Three out of four Gazans rely on emergency food assistance – and despite this support, the rate of severe food insecurity is rising. The people of Gaza have exhausted all their financial coping mechanisms and humanitarian aid is their primary lifeline, but not a long-term solution. A viable and sustainable solution is only possible through ending the blockade and opening up opportunities that will lay the groundwork for future economic development. In the meantime, UNRWA remains a lifeline for Palestine refugees, providing humanitarian assistance and ensuring Gaza's large refugee community can survive.
Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, continue to face a protracted protection crisis as a result of decades of Israeli occupation. Recurring violence, which intensified in 2022, is creating a complex political and humanitarian emergency. In the last year, UNRWA recorded an increase in Israeli Security Forces operations in and around Palestine refugee camps, unchecked settler violence, and high numbers of detentions and fatalities in the West Bank as a whole. Palestine refugees are particularly vulnerable and the refugee camps have become increasingly insecure places to live. Already weak in terms of governance and security, some of the camps have experienced an escalation in armed confrontations between Palestinian militant groups and the Israeli Security Forces in 2022.
Against this background, vulnerable Palestine refugee families in the West Bank remain at high risk of experiencing violence and poverty. Suffocating movement restrictions caused by fixed as well as ‘flying’ checkpoints and the unreliability of Israeli work permits being issued, have resulted in a loss of livelihoods.
This has put a strain on already fragile coping mechanisms.
The mental health impact of increasing tensions, escalations of hostilities, and the demeaning and disempowering nature of the occupation should not be underestimated, with children and the most vulnerable refugees continuing to pay the highest price. In this context, UNRWA has had to adjust its operations in response to the over 9,000 military incursions in 2022 alone to ensure that Agency services are accessible for all Palestine refugees and that the most vulnerable can continue to receive critical humanitarian assistance.
Under the 2023 oPt Emergency Appeal the priority in Gaza is to provide emergency food assistance to 1.2 million refugees and emergency cash assistance for those worst affected by the economic crisis. Emergency preparedness will be strengthened through improvements to existing Designated Emergency Shelters and new Mobile Emergency Shelters. In the West Bank, emergency food and cash assistance to the most vulnerable will continue. Emergency response will be scaled-up to include mobile health teams and cash-based support to Palestine refugees under imminent risk of forcible displacement, particularly in Area C, and those affected by Israeli Security Forces operations and settler violence, conflict, evictions, and demolitions. In both Gaza and the West Bank, additional provision will be made to ensure that children in UNRWA schools receive the needed mental health and psychosocial support and counselling to help them cope with the crises.
Thanks to the generous donor contributions in 2022, the Agency was able to provide humanitarian assistance during challenging circumstances and amid difficult financial constraints.
In 2023, UNRWA appeals to the Member States and all partners on whose solidarity the refugees count. We ask for shared responsibility to enable UNRWA to continue supporting the most vulnerable Palestine refugees and to leave no one behind by providing vital humanitarian assistance and essential basic services.
Adam Bouloukos
Director
UNRWA Affairs West Bank
Thomas White
Director
UNRWA Affairs Gaza