UN agency to reduce Gaza jobs after US cuts
gaza — The UN agency that helps Palestinian refugees said on Wednesday it would reduce jobs in Gaza and the West Bank at the end of this month following US budget cuts.
The job losses, which trade unionists say will eventually affect 1,000 people, have been prompting protests in Gaza.
UNRWA faces a cash crisis since the United States, long its biggest donor, slashed funding to the agency, providing just $60 million of a promised $365 million this year.
US President Donald Trump withheld the aid after questioning its value and saying Washington would only give aid if the Palestinians agreed to renew peace talks with Israel. The State Department said the agency needed to make unspecified reforms.
“The American administration’s decision to withhold $300 million had a deep impact on UNRWA’s ability to cater to Palestine refugees’ needs, whether through the regular services or emergency services,” said Sami Mshasha, a spokesman for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, speaking in occupied Jerusalem.
The agency also provides assistance to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, but the measures being taken now “apply only to the West Bank and Gaza,” said Mshasha.
He said that for the past six months UNRWA has been running emergency programmes in Gaza and the West Bank from its regular funding.—