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Yarmouk Situation Update, 13 May 2015 | Issue No. 27

UNRWA continued humanitarian operations in Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham today. The UNRWA team provided essential health services, vaccinations and child nutritional supplements contributed by WFP and UNICEF. Humanitarian activities continue in Tadamoun, to the north-east.

Situation Report

  • UNRWA medical personnel established a mobile health point, treating 425 patients over the course of the day. Three cases of hepatitis A were detected and treated. Eight children were administered with vaccines, while 2 out of 76 children under five years old were found to be moderately malnourished. One child was acutely malnourished.

  • The medical team also distributed child nutritional supplements, food and medicines generously provided by WFP and UNICEF, including 200 jars of Plumpy Doz and 75 cartons of high energy biscuits. UNRWA also provided 1,200 packets of bread.

  • Those receiving assistance are comprised of Palestinian and Syrian families displaced or affected by conflict, plus host communities. UNRWA missions deliver a broad range of critical humanitarian materials to each of these families, including food, medical supplies, water purification treatments, mattresses, blankets, family kitchen sets and hygiene kits.

  • UNRWA continues to provide humanitarian assistance to the civilians from Yarmouk who remain displaced in Tadamoun, an area on the north-eastern periphery. The Agency is also providing daily hot lunches for all civilians, complemented by regular distribution of canned food.

  • These ongoing operations represent a sustained demonstration of the commitment of the UN, both UNRWA and partners, to providing essential assistance to all civilians affected by the crisis in Yarmouk. UNRWA’s priority remains the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians within Yarmouk itself and reiterates its strong demand for respect and compliance with obligations to protect civilians and to establish secure conditions under which the Agency can deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance.

  • The vulnerability of civilians in Yarmouk remains of the highest severity. UNRWA is deeply concerned that without access, the most basic humanitarian needs of up to 18,000 Palestinian and Syrian civilians, including 3,500 children, continue to be left unmet.

UNRWA preparedness

  • UNRWA mobilized its emergency response team on April 1st to develop a range of response scenarios, including large displacements to areas where UNRWA does not currently have access.

  • UNRWA works closely with partners and UN Agencies to mobilize resources for a large-scale humanitarian response to support the civilians of Yarmouk.

  • UNRWA has prepositioned stocks of food, mattresses, blankets, and hygiene kits to respond in the case of further displacement from Yarmouk.

Call for support

  • As violence continues to profoundly threaten the lives and safety of Palestine refugees throughout Syria, UNRWA appeals for donors to increase their support to the Agency’s urgent Call for Funds, seeking an immediate injection of $30 million. The UNRWA Syria Crisis Appeal has received only 21% of the funds needed for 2015.

  • The capacity of the Agency to sustain life-saving emergency interventions, whilst responding immediately to urgent developments such as the one impacting Yarmouk since April 1st, is undermined by chronic underfunding for humanitarian interventions inside Syria.

  • More than 95% of Palestine refugees now rely on UNRWA to meet their daily needs of food, water and healthcare.

  • Priority interventions include cash assistance which enables UNRWA to access up to 470,000 Palestine refugees in need, including up to 39,500 currently living in hard to reach areas. This intervention will run out of funding after the distribution of second round of cash assistance in June.

  • Additional funding is also required for critical non-food items including blankets, mattresses and hygiene kits for displaced Palestine refugee families throughout Syria.