April 15, 2026 06:25 am (IST)
Follow us:
Syria: UN seeks expanded aid access to Palestinian refugees
New York, May 16 (IBNS): A senior United Nations official has highlighted the extreme hardship faced by Palestinian refugees in Syria as a result of the ongoing armed conflict, and stressed the need to improve conditions to enable the delivery of critically-needed humanitarian assistance.
“Many refugees had, often overnight, lost everything from their homes, their livelihoods, their businesses and their hopes. In their families, they had confronted death, injury and disappearance,” said Pierre Krähenbühl, the Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
“As another generation of Palestinians experiences the trauma of displacement, their situation has become, in human terms, nothing short of catastrophic and yet is often being overlooked,” he added during his visit on Wednesday to Syria to see for himself the suffering of the Palestine refugees and to advocate for expanded humanitarian access.
“The critical imperative is improved conditions to deliver the much-needed assistance to affected refugee communities. All parties must understand that safe, uninterrupted and substantial food distributions must become the norm,” said Krähenbühl.
“UNRWA must be allowed to provide medical supplies, hygiene items, water and other essential humanitarian supplies to civilians in Yarmouk, as well as in several other embattled camps and locations in the country.”
Efforts by the Agency to deliver critical supplies, including food and medicine, to approximately 18,000 civilians trapped in the Yarmouk refugee camp have been repeatedly thwarted, as recently as on Wednesday.
UNRWA, as well as senior UN officials, has consistently demanded that all parties cease hostilities and seek to resolve their differences exclusively by peaceful means, and that continuous, substantial and safe humanitarian access to the camp is ensured.
In Homs in central Syria, the Commissioner-General visited UNRWA installations and met Palestine refugees who have been exposed to a multiplicity of traumas over the past three years.
In his interactions with displaced refugees now housed at two UNRWA schools in Jaramana camp in Damascus, Krähenbühl listened to their stories of hardship and their feelings of loss and uncertainty. He pledged that UNRWA would continue to make every effort to support and assist Palestine refugees in this time of acute vulnerability.
He also expressed gratitude to UNRWA staff for their commitment and for selflessly taking great personal risks to provide assistance to the refugees, often putting aside their own personal experiences and tragedies.
[Commissioner-General of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) Pierre Krähenbühl (third left) on a visit to Homs, Syria. Photo: UNRWA]
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.
Support objective journalism for a small contribution.
Latest Headlines
Saudi Arabia is 'pressing' US to ease Iran blockade amid fears of wider oil disruption
Tue, Apr 14 2026
Iran Embassy in Australia drops stunning video of Tehran’s Iran Mall amid Middle East crisis
Tue, Apr 14 2026
Kim Jong Un watches as North Korea fires cruise, anti-ship missiles from naval destroyer
Tue, Apr 14 2026
Deal blows up: Netanyahu-Vance call triggers US-Iran blame war
Mon, Apr 13 2026
No port in Middle East will be safe: Iran issues chilling warning after US blockade announcement
Mon, Apr 13 2026
After 40-day closure, Abu Dhabi’s BAPS Temple set to reopen — What devotees need to do?
Mon, Apr 13 2026
From 18 to 87: Over 500 arrested in London for backing banned group
Sun, Apr 12 2026