Acting Commissioner-General of the United Nations Works and Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Christian Saunders, showed up in Yarmouk camp for Palestinian refugees, south of Damascus.

Accompanied by a delegation of the General Authority for Palestinian Arab Refugees (GAPAR), Saunders inspected the damage inflicted on the camp and on UNRWA schools and premises in the warfare.

As part of the visit, food baskets were distributed in the nearby Yalda town, where hundreds of Palestinian families displaced from Yarmouk have been taking refuge.

The displaced families briefed the UN official on their deteriorating humanitarian condition, calling on UNRWA to reconstruct the destroyed facilities and work on rehabilitating the infrastructure at the soonest possible time.

The Syrian government recaptured the camp on May 21, 2018, following a 33-day military operation launched in cooperation with the Russian forces on April 19, 2018. Mortar shells, tank shells, missiles, and other types of weapons slammed into the camp, resulting in the destruction of 60% of civilian buildings and facilities.

After nine years of conflict, Palestine refugees continue to be one of the most vulnerable groups in Syria with immense humanitarian needs.