India donates $2.5 million to support education, healthcare of Palestinian refugees

The donation will go directly to serve the schools, health centres and other basic services run by the organisation to support Palestinian refugees.

India presented a cheque of $2.5 million, the second tranche of the pledged $5 million annual support, to a UN agency on Monday that will go directly to serve the schools, health centres and other basic services run by the organisation to support Palestinian refugees.

India has given $22.5 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) since 2018. UNRWA is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees.

"The Government of India presented $2.5 million (second tranche of a total contribution of USD 5 million for the Financial Year 2022-2023) to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), in support of the Agency’s core programmes and services, including education, healthcare, relief and social services," the Representative Office of India (ROI) in Ramallah said in a statement.

"The financial contribution was presented to Ms. Xuran Wu, Associate Donor Relations and Projects Officer, Department of External Relations, UNRWA at the Representative Office of India in Ramallah, Palestine," it added.

During an Extraordinary Virtual Ministerial Pledging Conference for UNRWA held on June 23, 2020, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan announced that India will contribute $10 million US to UNRWA over the next two years.

UNRWA is facing increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, the extent of their vulnerability and their deepening poverty.

It is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5.6 million Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation.