Published : 08-07-2021
UNRWA in Syria said it has began providing some basic services to returned Yarmouk residents since September 2020.
In an effort to offer services to particularly vulnerable persons in Yarmouk, UNRWA has worked closely with the General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR) to resume essential primary health care and disease prevention in Yarmouk.
As of 23 September, a mobile health clinic – one of the Agency’s 25 primary health-care facilities across Syria - is visiting the camp every Wednesday to provide services from the yard of one of the destroyed UNRWA schools.
UNRWA also offers ERW risk-awareness and transportation for 143 UNRWA students who attend four UNRWA schools outside the camp.
Before the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, Yarmouk was home to approximately 160,000 Palestine refugees, making it the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria. Located eight kilometers from Damascus, it had a symbolic value for the Palestinian diaspora.
In December 2012, fierce clashes erupted in Yarmouk, causing numerous civilian casualties, severe damage to property and the displacement of thousands of Palestine refugees and Syrians. The camp was under siege from July 2013, drastically restricting the entry of commercial and humanitarian goods. In January 2014, UNRWA had access to Yarmouk and conducted direct distribution to besieged Palestine refugees. The Agency continued distribution until April 2015, when armed opposition groups captured over 60 per cent of the camp, containing over 90 per cent of the remaining civilian population. This not only made UNRWA unable to carry out any distributions inside Yarmouk but also displaced most of the remaining 18,000 Palestine refugees and other civilians to the neighbouring areas of Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham (YBB).
Later in 2015, UNRWA managed to access the remaining 6,000 Palestine refugees in Yarmouk and YBB through cross-border missions to Yalda and continued until May 2016 when access was blocked. Almost all the remaining Palestine refugees left during the final government offensive for Yarmouk in April-May 2018, after which the government retook control of the camp left in ruins.
Due to the Agency’s unprecedented financial crisis, critical health-care services like those extended to the returned Palestine refugees in Yarmouk are now in jeopardy, putting Palestine refugees at risk.
UNRWA in Syria said it has began providing some basic services to returned Yarmouk residents since September 2020.
In an effort to offer services to particularly vulnerable persons in Yarmouk, UNRWA has worked closely with the General Authority for Palestine Arab Refugees (GAPAR) to resume essential primary health care and disease prevention in Yarmouk.
As of 23 September, a mobile health clinic – one of the Agency’s 25 primary health-care facilities across Syria - is visiting the camp every Wednesday to provide services from the yard of one of the destroyed UNRWA schools.
UNRWA also offers ERW risk-awareness and transportation for 143 UNRWA students who attend four UNRWA schools outside the camp.
Before the beginning of the conflict in March 2011, Yarmouk was home to approximately 160,000 Palestine refugees, making it the largest Palestine refugee community in Syria. Located eight kilometers from Damascus, it had a symbolic value for the Palestinian diaspora.
In December 2012, fierce clashes erupted in Yarmouk, causing numerous civilian casualties, severe damage to property and the displacement of thousands of Palestine refugees and Syrians. The camp was under siege from July 2013, drastically restricting the entry of commercial and humanitarian goods. In January 2014, UNRWA had access to Yarmouk and conducted direct distribution to besieged Palestine refugees. The Agency continued distribution until April 2015, when armed opposition groups captured over 60 per cent of the camp, containing over 90 per cent of the remaining civilian population. This not only made UNRWA unable to carry out any distributions inside Yarmouk but also displaced most of the remaining 18,000 Palestine refugees and other civilians to the neighbouring areas of Yalda, Babila and Beit Saham (YBB).
Later in 2015, UNRWA managed to access the remaining 6,000 Palestine refugees in Yarmouk and YBB through cross-border missions to Yalda and continued until May 2016 when access was blocked. Almost all the remaining Palestine refugees left during the final government offensive for Yarmouk in April-May 2018, after which the government retook control of the camp left in ruins.
Due to the Agency’s unprecedented financial crisis, critical health-care services like those extended to the returned Palestine refugees in Yarmouk are now in jeopardy, putting Palestine refugees at risk.
