In view of the recent violence in Lebanon the Federal Foreign Office, as part of its humanitarian assistance to that country, has made a further 500,000 euro available to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) for aid projects for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Over 27,000 people have fled their homes following the recent outbreak of fighting in and around the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp near Tripoli. With Federal Foreign Office support the most needy refugees are to be provided with drinking water, medicines and hygiene sets. Immediately following the outbreak of violence the Federal Foreign Office rendered emergency assistance to the tune of 50,000 euro via the local aid organization PARD.
UNRWA was founded by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to support Palestinian refugees. With this new contribution the Federal Foreign Office has so far provided UNRWA with a total of 6.35 million euro in 2007.