The European Union announced a donation of four million euros to support the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to the appeal of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
"Failure to properly handle and manage the Covid-19 outbreak in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will not only put pressure on the already fragile health system," said the head of the service (European Union Service for Foreign Policy Tools Funding the Project for Twelve Months) and Director of Foreign Policy Tools Hilde Hardimann. Rather, it would undermine stability. Cooperation with UNRWA aims to reduce pressure on the health system to help communities affected by the conflict cope with the pandemic without inflaming existing tensions. ”
In turn, the representative of the European Union office in East Jerusalem, Seven Kun von Burgsdorf, said: “The Covid-19 pandemic is a global crisis that puts us all at risk, specifically the most vulnerable societies such as Palestine refugees. Therefore we need to strengthen our joint efforts to overcome these challenges. The unprecedented crisis. " He added, "This response comes on top of our annual donations of 82 million euros for UNRWA, which we paid early this year, and this again reflects our strong and steadfast support to the agency and its decisive work."
A statement issued by the European Union office in Jerusalem said, "This 12-month measure aims to support UNRWA, specifically in the occupied Palestinian territories, to continue providing basic health care services, which are potentially life-saving in the current circumstances, and will allow the agency to adapt and equip Its health centers in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, which serve approximately 1.2 million people, in order to respond urgently to the Covid 19-pandemic.
He continued, "This measure will also support the health hotlines operation and distribute information related to Covid-19 through text messages. The financing will also cover hospitalization expenses for approximately 5,000 non-coved-19 emergency cases, with the aim of relieving pressure on the public health system, Thus allowing the system to focus its attention on Covid-19 cases.
For his part, head of the UNRWA Donor Relations Unit, Mark Lasaway, said: "On behalf of the Agency, I thank the European Union for its generous support to UNRWA, which will help UNRWA to enhance its degree of preparedness and response to Covid-19 in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. We are very grateful to the European Union for its steadfast support over the decades and for the predictability of its funding for both major and emergency operations. "
