Italy pledges €2.18 million for UNRWA food aid in Gaza

Italy has pledged €2.18 million towards UNRWA’s food aid programme in the Gaza Strip. The announcement was made by the Directorate General for Development Cooperation in a statement on Thursday. The multilateral emergency contribution is a response to an appeal by the UN agency.

The funds will support the project to ensure food assistance to Palestine refugees under UNRWA’s Social Safety Net Programme in Gaza, said the Italians. “This programme is active in all the areas where the UN agency is operating, and is aimed at meeting the basic food needs of the most vulnerable Palestinians.”

According to the Italian directorate general, it will be possible to reach approximately 100,000 Palestinian refugees living in the Gaza Strip within the framework of a food distribution plan for the first half of 2016. “They will receive foodstuffs such as flour, rice, sugar, oil and powdered milk,” the statement pointed out. It will also cover the salaries for seven months of 96 social workers, who provide essential services to the same population.