Beirut [Lebanon], September 21: A senior UN official on Wednesday called on factions involved in clashes in the Ain Al-Helweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon to honor the truce and allow residents to access humanitarian aid.
"We appeal to those fighting and those with influence over them to respect the cease-fire and provide safe access to the camp to assess the damage, especially in the eight schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which have been taken over by the armed groups," said Dorothee Klaus, director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon.
UNRWA said in a statement that the agency, along with its partners, is continuing to provide displaced families forced to flee the camp with assistance, including warm meals, health care, clothes, mattresses, hygiene kits, baby items, and psychosocial support.
The statement added that the garbage collection has started to clear 56 metric tons of solid waste across the camp.
A truce was reached on Sept. 14 between conflicting factions after the latest wave of violence in the camp claimed about 20 lives and injured more than 150 since Sept. 7.
Between July 29 and Aug. 3, clashes between members of the Palestinian Fatah movement and Islamic activists in the camp killed at least 13 people and injured dozens of others.
Source: Xinhua