The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) announced Friday (September 11, 2020) the signing of a $1 million agreement with China to support food aid in the Gaza Strip, noting that China´s support came for the third year in a row.
The following is the text of the statement of "UNRWA":
The Ambassador of the People´s Republic of China, H.E. Mr. Guo Wei, and the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Mr. Philip Lazarini, signed a $1 million donation agreement to support food aid in Gaza, which is part of the agency´s emergency appeal for the occupied Palestinian territories for 2020. Unrwa provides a very important humanitarian lifeline to the more than 1 million Refugees from Palestine in Gaza who depend on food aid to meet their basic food security needs.
Donations from China have been allocated in the past two years to mitigate the effects of food insecurity among families of Palestine refugees in Gaza, most of whom are now facing the unprecedented global Coved-19 pandemic. This new donation ensures the health and safety of Palestine refugees, including special risk mitigation measures to avoid overcrowding in distribution centres, and sanitation of distribution centres to ensure safe provision of food assistance and personal protection equipment to front-line staff.
In announcing their contribution to support UNRWA´s major food aid activities, Ambassador Guo Wei, Head of the Office of the People´s Republic of China for the State of Palestine, said that "China attaches great importance to its cooperation with the Agency. It will support China. As always, UNRWA has worked and will continue to provide assistance to Palestine refugees and their economic and social development."
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philip Lazarini expressed his sincere appreciation to the Chinese government for its support to the Agency: "The generous Chinese donation will help UNRWA provide life-saving food aid to the more than 1 million Refugees from Palestine in Gaza. I hope that this cooperation will continue to grow, reflecting China´s support for UNRWA."
The Chinese Government has consistently supported UNRWA. This year, China is also shipping a large quantity of personal protective equipment to the agency´s five operational regions in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria to help the Agency provide assistance and protection to Palestine refugees in the face of the continuing challenges associated with the pandemic.
