The following statement from Zakat Foundation's CEO was prepared for this UNRWA press release:
The hearts of our supporters have a true two-part beat: To uplift the world’s downtrodden poor and aid those crushed by calamity, no matter their creed, place, gender, race, politics, or ethnicity. The sheer magnitude of tragedy and profusion of catastrophes that Palestinians of Gaza — a staggering 1.3 million refugees — endure every single day tops, or nearly so, every conceivable humanitarian category: poverty, orphan rate, child malnutrition, anemia, disease, and disabilities; energy and water deprivation, unemployment, relief dependence, and underdevelopment; and severely curtailed medical access, equipment, supplies, medicine, and treatment.
In the midst of such epic tribulation, UNRWA is nothing less than a godsend for our donors’ house repair and rebuilding program for the 5,500 families still homeless from the massive 2014 assault. UNRWA is Gaza’s gold medal organization when it comes to coordinating housing repairs, gliding over all the considerable political construction material hurdles, while closely vetting every single material provider.
UNRWA is an indispensable pillar of refugee relief in our world, a bastion of compassionate assistance to desperately needy, innocent victims of siege and conflict. It must be bolstered and upheld.
Khalil Demir
Executive Director
