UN to appeal for $1.2 billion to help 5 million Palestinians

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said Friday he hopes donors will be as generous this year as they were last year after the United States cut all funding for the USD 1.2 billion programme to help some 5 million Palestinians.

Pierre Krahenbuhl said at a news conference that 42 countries and institutions increased their funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency last year.

He called that "unprecedented," adding that it was also "very remarkable" that every single pledge in 2018 was honoured.

He praised the strong mobilisation of funds from Europe, the Gulf countries, Asia, the Americas and beyond, adding that "we're very inspired by that result."
In announcing the total cutoff in funding, the Trump administration called UNRWA an "irredeemably flawed operation." It said the U.S. was no longer willing to pay for a "very disproportionate share" of UNRWA's costs and criticized what it called the agency's "fundamental business model and fiscal practices" and its "endlessly and exponentially expanding community of entitled beneficiaries."