Displaced Palestinian refugees in Lebanon’s AlBekaa region who tested positive for coronavirus have been left without medicines, according to local activists.

The infected refugees have slammed UNRWA for turning blind eyes to their distress calls, saying the phone calls carried out by the Agency should rather be replaced by life-saving medical aid.

Hundreds of Palestinian refugee families have been facing squalid humanitarian conditions in AlBekaa region.

Over 470,000 refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon. About 45 per cent of them live in the country’s 12 refugee camps. Conditions in the camps are dire and characterized by overcrowding, poor housing conditions, unemployment, poverty and lack of access to justice.

Palestinians in Lebanon do not enjoy several important rights; for example, they cannot work in many professions and cannot own property (real estate). Because they are not formally citizens of another state, Palestine refugees are unable to claim the same rights as other foreigners living and working in Lebanon.