UNRWA Commissioner General Philip Lazzarini announced that “the donors’ conference in New York has raised $160 million for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), but more than $100 million is still needed for its budget.”

Before the media, he hailed the “strong and unanimous political support” that was expressed during the UN agency’s donor conference on Thursday. “But we still have a long way to go,” he explained. He noted that “the funding gap remains significant at the moment. With funding received for 2022 that was expected, including the amounts announced yesterday, we still have a large deficit of over $100 million.”

Lazzarini stressed that if this gap is not closed in the coming months, the access of thousands of boys and girls to education, health care and food for the poorest Palestinian refugees “could be seriously threatened.” “We have entered dangerous territory,” he added.