{"id":295324,"date":"2024-04-19T11:24:14","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T15:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=295324"},"modified":"2024-04-22T17:10:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T21:10:18","slug":"unrwa-cash-assistance-crucial-to-mitigate-palestine-refugee-hardship-in-syria-unrwa-press-release","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/unrwa-cash-assistance-crucial-to-mitigate-palestine-refugee-hardship-in-syria-unrwa-press-release\/","title":{"rendered":"Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA cash assistance crucial to mitigate Palestine Refugee hardship in Syria – Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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19 April 2024<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cMy family and I get\u00a0so\u00a0excited\u00a0when\u00a0I receive an SMS message on my mobile [phone]\u00a0with information on distribution times and locations of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA cash assistance.<\/em>\u00a0We feel it is God\u2019s blessing as we face countless hurdles, and we are in the grip of poverty. Living is difficult beyond imagination. We\u2019ve been in a crisis for over 12 years,\u201d said \u2018Aref al-Soudi, a Palestine Refugee from Qabr Essit camp in Rif Damascus.<\/p>\n

Like thousands of Syrians and Palestine Refugees, the prolonged conflict has scarred \u2018Aref. \u201cThe conflict in Syria set off a humanitarian crisis,\u201d \u2018Aref said. He recalls the sounds of rockets and bombs flying over his home when tensions escalated in the camp. A father of six, \u2018Aref used to work as an Assistant Store Keeper at the Directorate of Education in Damascus, before he retired in 2019.<\/p>\n

For Palestine Refugees like \u2018Aref, uncertainty and worry over the future have become constant, life itself has become more difficult, as critical goods get increasingly expensive. The conflict continues to cause suffering and the humanitarian needs of Palestine Refugee families keep growing amid the protracted conflict. This is compounded by worsening socio-economic conditions, with many struggling to make ends meet. The recent spike in the price of food and commodities deepens the hardship of Palestine Refugees who rely on Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA for humanitarian assistance. With a smile tinged with sadness, \u2018Aref said: \u201cÄ¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA aid came on time, as life has become unbearable in light of the skyrocketing prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Describing the impact of the conflict on all aspects of his life, \u2018Aref said: \u201cLike Syrians, the conflict has taken its toll on Palestine Refugees. My pension can barely meet my family\u2019s basic needs. We live on one meal a day and we struggle to keep up. In the past, we used to have three meals. Now we are eating less. We crave meat and chicken. We have forgotten the taste of meat. The price of vegetables, sugar, rice and cooking oil have sharply risen. Basically, I buy the cheapest things available and I always bargain. Life is hard and we struggle to survive,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Like many Palestine Refugees in Qabr Essit camp, \u2018Aref and his family depend on buying potable water from mobile water tanks every day, which cost around SYP 90,000 \u2013 about US$ 10 \u2013 a month. \u201cWe are always faced with daunting challenges and buying water adds a burden to our daily expenditures. My monthly pension is not enough to cover the needs of my family, so I always borrow and I am caught up in the vicious circle of debt. The situation is becoming more difficult by the day and we manage our needs day by day. I tried to find new work, but it is difficult as I am above the age of 60. It is cold and winter brings new hardship for us because we can\u2019t afford to buy heating fuel to run the stove. We face freezing weather particularly at night. The Agency should consider providing us with warm blankets that we can wrap ourselves with,\u201d \u2018Aref noted.<\/p>\n

Expressing his thanks to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA for providing him with cash assistance, \u2018Aref said: \u201cWe thank Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA for this great help in times of need which provides a lot of support. Although it might not meet all our needs, we will always remember and value this assistance. We appeal to you to provide this cash assistance monthly rather than quarterly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cash assistance is one of the pillars of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA emergency interventions to respond to the growing humanitarian needs of 419,615 Palestine Refugees in Syria and contributes to secure their basic needs. It also gives them the flexibility and dignity to prioritize their own living costs amid worsening socio-economic conditions. This past year, due to the decrease in funding, for the first time since the conflict started, it was only possible to distribute 10 months of cash assistance instead of the usual 12.<\/p>\n

Supporting the most vulnerable Palestine Refugees is made possible with the help of the European Union (EU), a longstanding partner of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA. The EU has contributed a total of EUR 5.5 million \u2013 or US$ 5.86 million \u2013 to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA since 2023 in support of the Agency\u2019s cash assistance emergency response in Syria.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

19 April 2024 \u201cMy family and I get\u00a0so\u00a0excited\u00a0when\u00a0I receive an SMS message on my mobile [phone]\u00a0with information on distribution times and locations of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA cash assistance.\u00a0We feel it is God\u2019s blessing as we face countless hurdles, and we are in the grip of poverty. Living is difficult beyond imagination. We\u2019ve been in a crisis for […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[2241],"document-category":[1329],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,5449,6650,2005,5200,2153,1745,2097],"entity":[],"document-language":[],"class_list":["post-295324","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-syria","document-category-press-release","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-assistance-to-the-palestinian-people","document-subject-funding-needs","document-subject-gaza-strip","document-subject-humanitarian-relief","document-subject-refugee-camps","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","document-subject-social-issues"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/295324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/295324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":295341,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/295324\/revisions\/295341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=295324"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=295324"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=295324"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=295324"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=295324"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=295324"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=295324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}