Israel downgrades homicide charge in settler case watched by Washington

Israel downgrades homicide charge in settler case watched by Washington

UN official paints bleak picture of trauma among Palestinians after clashes at camp in Lebanon

NEW YORK CITY: The armed hostilities between July 30 and Aug. 3 at Ein El-Hilweh, a camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Lebanon, and their aftermath have once again shone a spotlight on the dire circumstances in which the camp residents are living.

Dorothy Klaus, director of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, on Thursday described the effects of the violence on the people in the camps as “profound” as she called for an urgent and sustained aid effort.

She said that about 400 houses were destroyed during the recent hostilities and hundreds of families were displaced either within the camp or to nearby areas. The fighting also took a toll on vital infrastructure in the camp, including an UNRWA school complex that serves more than 3,000 children. The agency is still having difficulty accessing some parts of the camp, she added.

Ein El-Hilweh is the largest of 12 camps for Palestinian refugees that were established in Lebanon in 1948 after the creation of Israel. Since a 1969 agreement between Lebanese authorities and the Palestine Liberation Organization, the nation’s army has largely