Palestinian refugees in northern Syria continue to rail against the apathy maintained by the UN Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) regarding their appeals for urgent humanitarian assistance.

Palestinian families who have been displaced from Yarmouk and Khan Eshieh refugee camps along with Rif Dimashq to the northern Syrian provinces of Idlib and Aleppo said they have been shorn of much-needed relief services by the UN Agency.

The displaced families leveled heavy criticism at UNRWA and held the Agency accountable for the squalid humanitarian condition endured by hundreds of women, children, and sick refugees.

Though UNRWA’s mandate includes Palestinian refugees in Syria, UNRWA has rarely provided relief services to the displaced Palestinians in the northern corners of the country.

The displaced families continue to urge UNRWA and the other international humanitarian organizations to hand them over much-needed relief items, including medicines and foodstuff, and to provide them with the physical and moral protection they quite urgently need at such a critical time.

UNRWA is the main provider of humanitarian assistance, protection and basic services to 438,000 Palestine refugees who remain in Syria, and who have been among those worst affected by the crisis. Almost 60 per cent of Palestine refugees in Syria have been displaced at least once.

Since the start of the crisis in 2011, UNRWA estimates that 120,000 Palestine refugees have left Syria for neighbouring countries, and beyond.