Italy is giving one million dollars of multilateral aid to the United Nations' Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA) to help Palestinian refugees in Syria, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.
"With this donation, Italy's overseas aid department intends to guarantee access to education services for Palestinian child refugees in Syria, through psychosocial assistance and training for teachers and parents including on issues around gender-based violence and the dangers posed by explosive remnants of war," the statement said.
A total 438,000 Palestinian refugees are still present in Syria, of whom some 95 percent rely on humanitarian aid to meet their basic needs, according to UNRWA.
Following the US decision to halve funding to UNRWA, its chief Pierre Krahenbuhl said late Monday that schools and health centres will be at risk if the agency fails to plug a 185 million dollar funding gap needed to keep operating until the end of the year.