Gaza residents call on UNRWA to improve services for refugees

Palestinians in Gaza have demonstrated in front of the UNRWA headquarters in the besieged territory to call on the agency to improve its services for refugees, Anadolu has reported. The protest was organised by the Joint Committee for Palestinian Refugees.

The Committee includes representatives from the nationalist and Islamic Palestinian factions, in addition to the refugees’ committees of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Parents’ Council. They explained that the recruitment of teachers and other service professionals by UNRWA does not keep pace with the growing refugee population.

“UNRWA has to bear its responsibility towards all the refugees and offer them all of the services that they need,” insisted Mahmoud Khalaf, a member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, who took part in the demonstration. Among the refugees’ requirements, he pointed out, is humanitarian aid as well as more teachers. “This is why UNRWA was established in 1949.” Although the agency has 349 vacancies in Gaza, added Khalaf, it has only filled 250 of the positions.

Read: Palestinians protest at UNRWA office in Gaza