Israeli border block leaves warehouses full of medicine and food for Palestinians go to waste

Resources are tight, so the school operates on a double shift, with one set of students arriving for the morning, while a second group comes in later in the afternoon.

Amer Darwish, the area education chief, describes how students on the early are often in their classrooms before sunrise, while the second group can still be in lessons well after the sun has gone down.

This is the reality of life for refugees living in Marka, the second largest refugee camp in Jordan, which was established in 1968 to protect Palestinian’s fleeing Gaza and the West Bank amid the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

In the years since, the camp has grown to over 60,000 refugees, with it evolving from tented structures to more defined buildings. While initially it was outside the city, years of urban sprawl in the Jordanian capital has seen the two areas merge together.

UNRWA provides key social services for the Palestinians living in Marka’s surrounds, from education, primary healthcare, sanitation and even some social protection.

There are significant pressures on refugees who have come from Gaza, who don’t possess identity numbers and make it more difficult to get services from outside UNRWA. Further strain on UNRWA comes from significant funding cuts, as countries withdraw aid to the key relief agency for Palestinians. 

Tamara Alrifai, the head of communications at UNRWA, outlines how the agency received €603m of its typical €880m budget.

Alrifai says:

We have to grapple with a gap of €200m, which could be covered with austerity and cost control, but that cannot be maintained over many years.

Aid is also a key part of the Jordanian response to the ongoing war in Gaza, alongside support for UNRWA. Representatives from the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organisation (JHCO) explain how they have been left unable to deliver aid to Gaza for over four months.

The particular route used by JHCO has been shut since September after an attack was carried out by a Jordanian citizen at the border crossing, killing two IDF soldiers. With the border route closed, warehouses on the outskirts of Amman are left full of food, medicine and necessary supplies for Palestinian’s in Gaza.

Concerns are repeatedly raised about the possible expiry of food stocks and medicine left stuck on warehouse shelves, with journalists shown how antibiotics donated by India worth over $100,000 have been left to expire due to the Israeli border block.

“Every time we have a meeting, we bring this issue that we have medicine and we have food that is worth millions of dollars. We are ready to dispatch but because the border is closed, we cannot,” the representative tells the Irish Examiner.

He criticises the Israeli response, highlighting how while aid shipments were permitted, Israel would deny the importation of some goods, including chocolate, honey, halva and powdered milk.

“They say the chocolate, the honey, the halva, remove it from the food basket. It’s high energy… There is no reason [for it to be rejected].”

Alrifai says UNRWA is also struggling to get aid into Gaza, particularly materials for children to continue their education in the Palestinian enclave. With the ceasefire, some 65,000 children are returning to some kind of learning in shelters in Gaza, with displaced teachers providing them with lessons.

She explains that, during the day, families remove mattresses and blankets from the shelters, while kids gather around in a circle and receive between four and five hours of lessons each day.

“Roughly, we’ve had 1,000 additional kids per day register [for education]. That’s how eager they all are to get back to school,” Alrifai said. “To do that, we need school supplies and Israelis are not allowing them.”

These prohibited items include basics necessary for early education, including crayons, Alrifai says. But the high take-up of education in Gaza, despite the lingering threat of Israeli attacks shows the symbolism of the “Palestinian refugee mindset”, Alrifai adds.

Whether they’re in Marka or in Gaza, it’s clear that all Palestinian children want is a normal life.