Palestinian Refugees In Lebanon Despair At UN Agency Funding Cuts

Fakhria al-Ali depends on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees for her breast cancer treatment in Lebanon, but after key countries suspended their financing, she fears she has been handed a death sentence

Beirut, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Feb, 2024) Fakhria al-Ali depends on the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees for her breast cancer treatment in Lebanon, but after key countries suspended their financing, she fears she has been handed a death sentence.

"My life is a nightmare," said the unemployed 50-year-old, who lives in the impoverished Beddawi Palestinian refugee camp in north Lebanon.

"Without UNRWA I would die," she added, referring to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA was set up in 1949 and assists Palestinians who fled or were forced from their homes by the war over Israel's creation a year earlier, as well as their descendants.

The agency is under fire over Israeli accusations that 12 staff members were involved in Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.

More than a dozen countries including the United States and Britain have suspended funding to the agency, which sacked the accused individuals.

Some 5.9 million Palestinians are registered with UNRWA in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, and can access assistance such as health care and social services.

Lebanon hosts an estimated 250,000 Palestinian refugees, according to UNRWA.

"An entire people will face death -- those with cancer like me first of all," Ali told AFP by telephone.