2024-02-29T15:26:55+00:00
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/ The Iraqi Red Crescent Society announced, on Thursday, that it had delivered food and relief aid to the Lebanese Red Cross for distribution to displaced families on the Lebanese-Palestinian border.
The association said in a statement received by Agency, “The Iraqi Red Crescent shipped more than 18 tons of humanitarian aid on board the Air Force aircraft at Baghdad Airport and delivered it this evening to the Lebanese Red Cross at Hariri Airport in Lebanon.”
This comes amid warnings of “difficult and harsh repercussions” of stopping UNRWA services in Lebanon, according to a report by Alhurra TV.
The report tells the story of two girls from Lebanon who are living a journey of struggle with life, after losing their parents who were their support, as they left them alone to face the harshness of life as Palestinian refugees in a country suffering from difficult economic conditions.
The two sisters rely on UNRWA for medical care and part of their hospital coverage, and when news spread that the UN agency’s services might be halted, they did not know what would happen to them. “We cannot get a secure job in this country, and we do not have enough income to secure our minimum basic needs, so how can we treat ourselves from illnesses and psychological and physical pain,” Mona says.
If it weren’t for UNRWA, Mona’s sister would probably be dead, she says, “because she had breast cancer years ago, and she didn’t have the financial ability to receive treatment, so the services provided by the UN agency were a lifeline for her from a merciless disease.”
“My sister is still suffering from psychological problems and is continuing her treatment with a doctor who works for the UN agency,” she added in an interview with Alhurra. “The difficult circumstances we went through left deep effects on her psyche, as she was living in a state of constant fear, imagining things that do not exist in reality. It turned her life and my life into hell, until she began her treatment journey, which would have been impossible for her to join had it not been for UNRWA’s free services.”
Mona’s nephew has suffered from diabetes since childhood. He regularly receives treatment at the agency’s clinic and receives the necessary medications for free. He also receives financial assistance of $30 every three months. She says, “Although the amount is small, it helps secure some of his family’s needs, especially since he is unemployed. If it weren’t for the free UNRWA schools, his child would have been without an education, as his father cannot afford the costs of his tuition and books.”
But for some time now, the agency has reduced its hospital services, where it has been limited, as refugee Suham says, to covering a small percentage of emergency and life-threatening hospital operations, after previously covering up to 50 percent and more of the cost of operations. For months now, my son has been waiting for the agency’s approval to undergo an umbilical hernia operation, and so far he has not received it.
“We also cannot forget the dental clinic that provides its services for free, even if it is limited to extracting molars without treating them,” she added in an interview with Alhurra, stressing, “Everyone knows that treatment is an expensive commodity in Lebanon, and only the rich can afford it, and those who have someone to support them by bearing its costs.”
Siham and her children also receive quarterly cash support from the agency. She and Mona agree that the cessation of UNRWA services would be “a total devastation for poor refugee families, as they will be deprived of their most basic human rights, which will exacerbate the difficult living conditions they suffer from.”
Sixteen countries have suspended their funding to UNRWA, which totals $450 million, more than half of its projected income for 2024, according to UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini, who recently warned that the agency’s activities across the region “will be at significant risk from March onwards.”
The agency has been the subject of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its employees of involvement in the October 7 attacks carried out by Hamas on Israel. It immediately terminated the contracts of the accused employees, launched an internal investigation, and assigned an independent group to evaluate UNRWA and its political “neutrality.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proposing to close the UN agency, as part of his plan for the “day after” for Gaza once the war is over. Israel has repeatedly accused the UN agency of covering up for Hamas and called for it to be replaced by other international relief organizations.