Germany signs €28 million in project funding with UNRWA for Palestinian camps

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees and the German government last month signed three agreements in support of Palestinian refugees totalling €28 million.

The agreements were signed by Germany through the mostly state-owned KfW Development Bank and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the UN agency said in a press release Thursday.

"The German government will continue to support Palestine Refugees throughout the region. The new agreements will make a substantial contribution to improving living conditions in Palestine Refugee camps," said Oliver Owcza, Head of the Representative Office of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ramallah.

Two of the agreements, totalling €16 million, will support an ongoing regional programme to improve the living conditions of Palestinian refugees in the camps, according to the UNRWA statement.

This initiative, known as the Regional Programme for the Improvement of the Living Conditions of Palestine Refugees in Camps (REPAC), will "improve infrastructure in refugee camps in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip and support the construction, expansion, and rehabilitation of social, economic, and environmental infrastructure," it said.

The third agreement will provide €12 million for the second phase of the current digital transformation programme in health and education. This "focuses on digitising the main elements of UNRWA health and education services in Jordan, Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon," the statement concluded.

In 2022, Germany was UNRWA's second largest donor, with Berlin contributing €190 million in funds for the agency's activities supporting Palestinians in refugee camps.

The announcement of this new funding of UNRWA by Germany comes amid news that the agency is seeking $1.6 billion for its work in 2023, due to a funding shortfall that could drastically impact food aid and other services it provides to Palestinian refugees.

Just this week, the agency warned of a potential famine in Gaza due to lack of funds.