UN suspends services in Palestine refugee camp in Lebanon after fatal clashes

A man holds a poster among the people gathered for the funeral ceremony of Abu Sheref el-Armoushi, Fatah Movement member and 3 guards who were killed in clashes between two factions at the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Helwa in Sidon, Lebanon on July 31, 2023 [Houssam Shbaro – Anadolu Agency]

A United Nations Agency has suspended services at the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon to protest against the presence of armed fighters around its schools and other facilities within the area, Reuters reports.

Deadly clashes broke out at the Ain El-Hilweh camp last month after Islamist gunmen tried to assassinate Mahmoud Khalil, a leader of Palestinian political faction, Fatah, forcing hundreds to flee.

“The Agency does not tolerate actions that breach the inviolability and neutrality of its installations,” United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) said in a statement.

It said that schools in the camp were unlikely to be available for 3,200 children at the start of the new school year.

“UNRWA reiterates its call on armed actors to immediately vacate its facilities, to ensure unimpeded delivery of much needed assistance to Palestine refugees,” the Agency added.

Some 400,000 refugees live in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps, which date back to the 1948 war between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, UNRWA provides public services including schools, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

READ: Palestine camp in Lebanon: No one is welcome

Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.