Politics and starvation: Gaza learns of Israel’s decision to ban UNRWA
Al Jazeera
Refugees and the displaced are grappling with the Israeli decision to cut an essential lifeline.
Until this morning, 38-year-old Hussam Abu Ghaban had not heard of the Israeli Knesset’s decision to ban the UN agency responsible for his family’s welfare.
Now, with the Israeli Knesset passing two bills banning the agency from Israel and choking off its ability to work in Gaza, the family does not know what to do.
Someone in the nearby camp operated by the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) had mentioned it, but Abu Ghaban had not known about what turned out to be an overwhelming Knesset vote in favour of the ban despite international outrage.
The concern on Abu Ghaban’s face was unavoidable as he weighed the news. He, his wife Ola and their eight children had fled Shati refugee camp in the north of the Gaza Strip in early November to the relatively safe vicinity of a camp at Deir el-Balah maintained by UNRWA.
Overcrowded and painfully under-resourced as the camp is, it represents some small support to the 1.9 million displaced people in Gaza.
