Staff of UN body in Gaza protests against management

By Noor Abu Aisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Hundreds of employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) protested against their organization’s failure to meet their demands in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday.

Protesters held banners that read "we have just demands," "where is job security?", and "cutting services worsens Gazans’ conditions."

Amal al-Batsh, deputy of the agency’s Chief of Staff Union in the Gaza Strip, told Anadolu Agency: "We came here to deliver a message to Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general of UNRWA , and the management of the UN’s body in Gaza that we will not give up the rights of Palestinian refugees and UNRWA employees.

“The UNRWA has reduced its services in the Gaza Strip and stopped hiring new employees, and we see that UNRWA is abdicating its responsibilities in supporting and hiring refugees in Gaza.”

Al-Batsh also demanded from the UNRWA’s administration and the donor countries to abide by their financial pledges for supporting Palestinians.

"We had engaged in dialogue with the UNRWA’s administration to solve these problems,” adding: “Unfortunately, we failed to reach to any compromise due to the stubbornness of the UN’s administration to approve our demands."

The UN staff also staged a one-day strike at all UN institutions in the coastal enclave.

The institutions included schools, health clinics, project centers and emergency relief services, and the Gaza-based regional office of UNRWA.

A week before, a similar march was organized by UNRWA staff to protest over the same issue.

The UNRWA administration, however, rejected the charges against it.