ReliefWeb

Humanitarian context: The second quarter of 2016 continued to be marked by a sharp escalation of armed violence across the country. The situation in Aleppo deteriorated, claiming the lives of many civilians including Palestine refugees. In Khan Eshieh camp in southern rural Damascus, direct shelling destroyed civilian houses and several Palestine refugees were reportedly killed. In Sayyida Zeinab, next to Qabr Essit camp in rural Damascus, two bombings on 25 April and 11 June killed at least 21 civilians and injured several dozens.

As intense fighting erupted between extremist armed groups inside Yarmouk on 7 April, UNRWA was forced to suspend all distribution operations in Yalda. Prior to the interruption, UNRWA had been able to provide a range of assistance to 6,000 Palestine refugee families from Yarmouk, Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham, including food baskets, blankets, and hygiene kits. UNRWA had also deployed a mobile health team to provide primary healthcare to refugees. Following almost one month of interruption, an assessment mission was conducted on 27 April. From 2 to 25 May, operations resumed and UNRWA delivered an additional 10,800 Hygiene Kits and 10,800 family food parcels. On 25 May, operations were again interrupted as the Agency could not guarantee the safe delivery of humanitarian assistance.