Palestinian families face another difficult Ramadan as aid funding dips

Palestinian families face another difficult Ramadan as aid funding dips

GAZA CITY: For the second year running, Hassan Abu Al-Amrain has missed out on relief aid for his family during the month of Ramadan. There has been a significant drop in the amount of funding provided to local civil humanitarian charities due to the measures imposed to curb the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Abu Al-Amrain, 47, who lives in Gaza City said: "For the second year, the month of Ramadan has been the most difficult for us. We would usually wait for supplies of goods and food provided by charitable associations because I am unable to buy them." Anxiety dominates Abu Al-Amrain, who suffers from illnesses that have kept him out of work for 20 years. "The situation is very difficult, and I do not know how I will provide my family's needs," he told Arab News. More than two-thirds of the Gaza Strip's population of some 2 million people suffers from poverty or extreme poverty, according to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). Local statistics show that the unemployment rate was 43 percent before the pandemic, but it has now exceeded 50 percent, with heads of families losing their jobs. For needy families, the month