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SvennoJ on 22 February 2024
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Long term effects are starting to become more and more urgent


UNRWA chief says agency has reached ‘breaking point’

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini has informed the United Nations that the Palestinian refugee agency has reached its “breaking point”. Several key donor countries, including the United States, suspended aid to the agency, following Israeli claims that a small handful of its employees took part in the October 7 attacks.

Israel has not provided evidence for those claims, but the funding cuts have taken a severe toll on the organisation as it works to address a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions in Gaza. Lazzarini says that UNRWA’s ability to carry out its duties is now “severely threatened”.

“In just over four months in Gaza, there have been more children, more journalists, more medical personnel, and more UN staff killed than anywhere in the world during a conflict,” Lazzarini said. “It is with profound regret that I must now inform you that UNRWA has reached a breaking point, with Israel’s repeated calls to dismantle it and the freezing of funding by donors at a time of unprecedented humanitarian needs in Gaza.”

West Bank economy ‘bleeding’ during war: Expert

While it is apparent that the conflict has decimated the economy in Gaza, the West Bank is also suffering under “collective punishment” from the conflict, says Palestinian economist Nasser Abdel Karim. He told Al Jazeera that unemployment has been rising in the occupied territory, especially with the 200,000 Palestinians who worked inside Israel banned from their jobs after the outbreak of the war.

Abdel Karim said the revenues earned by these workers were spent in the West Bank, so the territory has lost that income. Moreover, the withholding of Palestinian Authority taxes by Israel has only deepened the problem. “If Palestinian groups and Israel reach a deal to end the war, the economy in the West Bank needs between one and two years to return to its pre-October 7 levels. But Gaza will need years, as many as 20, to recover,” he added.

‘Total absence’ of education in Gaza as parents struggle to feed children

With large swathes of Gaza’s population displaced and facing severe food insecurity amid Israel’s ongoing assault, education has become an afterthought as parents struggle to protect their children from hunger, displacement, and bombardment.

“There’s a total absence of education in Gaza right now. Almost no child is going to school, and instead, parents are focusing on their children’s survival. They want to make sure that they live another day,” Alexandra Saieh, head of humanitarian policy at Save the Children International, told Al Jazeera.

“Even if the war were to end tomorrow, education can’t just resume. More than half of Gaza’s schools have either been destroyed or are too damaged to even function,” she added.

Palestinians walk past destroyed houses in the northern Gaza Strip on February 22

Local official says Israel targets Jenin because it inspires Palestinians

Nidal Naghnaghiyeh says the Israeli air raid earlier is a continuation of the Israeli targeting of the Jenin refugee camp and its residents as part of a systemic policy of killing young men there. “What is happening in the northern West Bank, and especially in the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, aims to liquidate the Palestinian resistance,” Naghnaghiyeh said. He added that occupation forces are trying to bend the will of young Palestinians and tame their alertness to convey a message that “there is no point to resistance”.

“But the occupation is facing persistence from various sectors of Palestinian society,” Naghnaghiyeh told Al Jazeera. “We expect that before and during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Israel’s attacks will increase on cities and refugee camps – especially Jenin because Israel considers the Jenin camp to be the inspiration for young Palestinians and the core of resistance in the West Bank.”

Teenager killed by Israeli attack on car in Jenin

A 17-year-old has succumbed to his injuries sustained in an Israeli air attack on a vehicle in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. The Israeli military bombed the car last night, killing one other person and injuring at least 15 people, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The bombing occurred after clashes erupted between Palestinian fighters and Israeli troops in Jenin yesterday.