UNRWA services in WB camps shrink due to its employees’ strike

5, 000 employees working for the relief and works agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) in the occupied West Bank have continued their open-ended strike for the third week, in protest at their low salaries.

One of the UNRWA employees told the Palestinian information center (PIC) that his salary is not enough for the life requirements in the West Bank, including food, clothing and rent.

Organizers of the strike said it aims at achieving the employees’ demands that have not been implemented despite the ongoing negotiation with the agency for the sixth months.

The strike closed UNRWA schools and health centers in the cities of the occupied West Bank and resulted in the accumulation of waste in the streets of the camps, while the agency says it is experiencing a fiscal deficit that reached twenty million dollars this year and is expected to increase to sixty-five million dollars next year.

Sami Mushasha, UNRWA spokesman in the West Bank, told the PIC that a number of donor countries declined from providing their services to the Agency; which has negatively affected the services provided to the Palestinian public.

Nearly one million refugees living in 19 camps in the occupied West Bank are waiting for a solution to the problems caused by the strike, while the agency has reduced its services in the refugee camps.