DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – Just four percent of emergency work in Syria for Palestinians has been funded so far this year, threatening the viability of a cash assistance program that UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness described on Sunday as a “lifeline” for refugees.
He said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees needs around $415 million, of which $250 million would fund its cash program – which provides cash distributions for roughly half a million Palestinian refugees affected by the war in Syria.
Gunness spoke to The Associated Press from Kuwait, where an international conference will take place Tuesday to raise funds for humanitarian operations in Syria.
“We’re not crying wolf here. If we don’t receive the funds for this program at this conference in Kuwait we are going to have to cease in a matter of days our vital cash assistance program,” he said.
“It will be devastating,” he added. “This is literally a lifeline. It is quite literally a matter of life and death.”