UNRWA Emergency Appeal 2002 Progress Report

Transcription

1 UNRWA Headquarters Gaza Department of External Relations Telephone: Fax: ero@unrwa.org website: UNRWA Emergency Appeal 2002 Progress Report UNRWA Elementary B Co-ed School, Gaza City, after aerial attack on a nearby installation 14 Fourteenth progress report covering February 2002

2 Emergency Appeal This is the fourteenth progress report in UNRWA s emergency appeal series. This report covers the implementation of emergency appeal activities over the period 1 28 February Background UNRWA continued its emergency operations throughout February despite closures, obstacles to movement and a rapidly deteriorating security situation. On 4 February in the Gaza Strip Israeli helicopters fired missiles at a metal workshop in Jabalia after a mortar attack the previous night on an Israeli settlement at Gush Katif. Five Palestinians died when their car exploded near Sofa checkpoint at Rafah. Israeli sources alleged that a bomb in their car had exploded prematurely while Palestinian sources claimed that rockets had hit the car from the air. On 6 February an UNRWA preparatory school pupil was killed when Israeli forces opened fire on a group of Palestinians in the Salah ed-din quarter of Rafah in the Gaza Strip. On 10 February, Palestinian militants fired homemade rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip and a suicide bomber blew himself up at the entrance to the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) HQ in Beersheva. In retaliation, Israeli F16 warplanes dropped two bombs on a Palestinian security installation at the Ansar compound in Gaza City, destroying several buildings and damaging nearby properties including the offices of the United Nations Special Coordinator (UNSCO) and the IBRD. A building housing UN international staff and Palestinian civilians was damaged for the third time. Two UNSCO employees were injured, 13 members of the Palestinian security forces and 10 civilians sustained wounds or had to be treated for shock. The same night, Israeli helicopters fired more rockets at metal workshops in the Jabalia area. Air strikes on Gaza resumed on 11 February. Israeli helicopters and F16 warplanes struck at the Saraya security compound in the centre of Gaza City. Numerous houses, shops and offices were damaged. Local residents panicked, including many children who were in the streets between school shifts when the attacks took place. On 14 February three members of an IDF tank crew were killed when their tank was destroyed by a mine in an ambush on the road between Karni and Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. F16 warplanes attacked the Gaza Strip again on 15 February, striking a Palestinian National Security Forces base east of Jabalia refugee camp, injuring 24 persons including 19 soldiers. On 16 February IDF tanks and bulldozers moved approximately one kilometre into Palestinian Authority territory east of Bureij refugee camp. Three Palestinians, including a 14-year UNRWA school pupil were killed in the ensuing clashes. In the West Bank on 16 February two Israelis and their Palestinian assailant were killed in an attack on the Israeli settlement of Karne Shomron. The same day, a Palestinian was assassinated by a car bomb in Jenin. In the days that followed, violence in the West Bank escalated. On 19 February, six Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint outside the West Bank village of Ein Arik were gunned down. Israeli forces retaliated the next day. Israeli sea-borne commandos attacked a Palestinian security force base on the Gaza sea front, killing four Palestinian soldiers. F16 warplanes also bombed the Palestinian police headquarters in Gaza City, located close to UNRWA co-educational elementary schools A and B. A number of classrooms were damaged and a section of a rocket fell in the garden adjacent to the playground. UNRWA s Al-Nour Rehabilitation Centre for the visually impaired also sustained UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 1 of 10

3 damage. In the West Bank, Israeli forces using aircraft and tanks struck at the towns of Jenin, Nablus, Ramallah and Salfit, and Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah. In view of air strikes and closures imposed by Israeli forces that divided the Gaza Strip into three sections, on 20 February UNRWA instructed local staff in the Gaza Strip not to report to their offices, and all UNRWA schools were closed to the end of the Eid al-adha holiday. On 25 February, in separate incidents two pregnant women, one Palestinian and one Israeli, were injured by gunfire while on their way to hospitals in the West Bank. Two men travelling with the Israeli woman were killed when gunmen opened fire on their car south of Bethlehem. The 22-year-old husband of the pregnant Palestinian woman was killed and both his parents injured when Israeli soldiers opened fire on the family's car at a checkpoint on the outskirts of Nablus. The two women survived and both gave birth to girls. An Israeli assault on the West Bank's refugee camps began on the evening of 28 February, when paratrooper units supported by tanks and helicopter gunships raided the Balata camp, home to 20,257 refugees. There was extensive damage to both property and infrastructure, and Israeli troops took up positions in the Agency's boys' school in the camp. Under shelling and with troops using explosives to blow holes in the walls of homes (to avoid sending soldiers into alleyways while conducting house to house searches), the number of casualties mounted quickly. In the course of the month, in the West Bank UNRWA recorded 51 Palestinians and 27 Israelis killed, 486 Palestinians and 127 Israelis were reported injured. In the Gaza Strip 40 Palestinians were reported killed and 220 injured. The Israeli army carried out 83 incursions into Palestinian Authority areas in the Gaza Strip. Fifty-six mortars and 13 locally made rockets were recorded as being launched from within the Gaza Strip against Israeli targets both inside the Strip and in Israel. Destroyed shelters, Balata Camp At the end of February, confirmed cash and in-kind pledges to the Third Emergency Appeal (covering emergency activities for the period June - December 2001) reached USD 62,603,767, or 81.4 per cent of requirements. Nevertheless, only USD 39,373,584 had been received in actual contributions (approximately 51.2 per cent of appeal requirements), while USD 23,230,183 of cash and in-kind pledges had not yet been transferred to the Agency. Meanwhile, pledges to UNRWA s 2002 Emergency Appeal, launched in January, stood at USD 10,959,886, of which USD 441,751 had been received. Emergency employment creation During February 2002, another 958 persons in the Gaza Strip were given short-term jobs under the emergency employment programme. In the course of the month, a total of 4,129 short-term contracts were assigned to various departments within UNRWA s Field Office and Headquarters in Gaza. This brought to 14,357 the total number of persons UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 2 of 10

4 benefiting from the programme since its beginning in January 2001, 2,979 of them women. The dependants total 118,154. In the West Bank a total of 1,047 additional staff had temporary assignments with UNRWA, 637 of them men and 410 of them women. Their dependants numbered 5,180. Public works and construction projects under the emergency employment programme continued in the Gaza Strip. Nearly 50 percent of the 259,100m² of sandy alleyways planned to be paved in the refugee camps of the Gaza Strip under the first, second and third emergency appeals reached completion. The reconstruction was completed of 89 shelters belonging to refugee families registered as Special Hardship Cases in the Gaza Strip. 23 more shelters were under way, 132 others were in the tendering or contracting stages and 27 were under technical assessment. The construction of 13 classrooms at two schools in the Gaza Strip was completed, while work was in progress on 84 others at fifteen schools. Four more classrooms at one school and two specialised units at two other schools were in the contracting stage. The construction of four UNRWA schools in the Nuseirat, Jabalia and Bureij refugee camps was progressing. Construction of one additional floor on top of the Auto-mechanics Section at Gaza Training Centre was in progress. Construction of three more buildings there to accommodate a kitchen, dining hall and 18 classrooms, the Hydrotherapy Section, laundry room and library were under design. Paving of yards at several UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip was completed, while minor construction works were in progress at a number of schools, including toilet blocks, sheds and canteens. Additional toilet units are in the contracting stage. In West Bank refugee camps, according to preliminary figures, a total of 8,465m 2 of concrete pathways were constructed and 512m of drains were laid, as part of the third phase of a programme to improve infrastructure in the camps. Staff were unable to visit all refugee camps where work had been carried out, owing to closures and the Israeli military offensives underway in several of the camps in early March. The work generated 1,404 person-days of labour for unemployed residents of the camps. Owing to closures and violence, almost all construction and maintenance projects underway in the West Bank encountered delays during the month. One contractor was unable to begin work on a distribution centre in the Aqabat Jabr camp because he was unable to reach the site. For the same reason, there was no progress in installing air conditioning at UNRWA health centres in the Tulkarm, Jenin and Ein Sultan camps. Only three percent of construction was executed at the girls' school under construction in Birzeit. Additional classrooms under construction at a girls' school in the Askar refugee camp were 11 percent complete at the end of February. Others under construction at a school in the Jenin refugee camp were 43 percent complete and others at a girls' school in Biddo, 44 percent complete. These construction projects resulted in 682 person-days of work for skilled labourers in the building trades and 434 person-days of work for unskilled labourers. UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 3 of 10

5 UNRWA's Headquarters Contracts Committee approved contract proposals for construction projects at the men's and women's training centres in Ramallah and at a girls' school in the Far a refugee camp. Four contract proposals were drawn up in February, two for construction projects and two for maintenance projects: classroom construction at schools in the Ein Sultan and Aqabat Jabr camps, renovations to offices in Beit Jala and upgrading of the health centre in Qalqilya. UNRWA also issued a letter of intent to a contractor in connection with maintenance to the surgical suite in Qalqilya Hospital. Bids on tenders for the construction of classrooms at a girls' school in Qalqilya came in during the month. UNRWA invited bids on tenders for six other projects, for construction of classrooms at its boys' school in Jenin, construction of a lavatory at a school in Billy, and maintenance work at three other schools, as well as the Kalandia Training Centre. Emergency Food Aid In the Gaza Strip a new food distribution cycle comprising three rounds began on 2 February as planned. A total of 126,944 rations were distributed. These included 642 parcels issued to refugee and non-refugee families residing in the Mawasi area of Rafah and Khan Younis that has been under strict closure since the start of the emergency, and to one family after their home was demolished by the Israeli Army. Since the beginning of the emergency, UNRWA has distributed a total of 984,225 food rations to 126,953 families in the Gaza Strip. Sunflower oil procured for emergency food distribution could not be cleared through Israeli customs, because it had originated in Iran. For this reason, distributions in the West Bank were suspended between 1 and 10 February, and 6,390 families did not receive food parcels. Nevertheless, by the end of the month, in the West Bank 10,578 food parcels were delivered to families in the Aida, Beit Jibrin, Dheisheh, Jalazone and Aqabat Jabr refugee camps, in 15 villages and in seven towns including Jericho and Nablus. Since January 2001 UNRWA has distributed 243,715 food parcels in the West Bank. Selective cash assistance for families in extreme crisis In the Gaza Strip, during February USD 138,490 was issued in cash assistance to 506 families with urgent needs arising from the crisis. Since the beginning of the emergency, up to 28 February, in the Gaza Strip UNRWA has disbursed a total of USD 2,802,721 among 8,295 families, at an overall average of USD 338. USD 221,719 was disbursed among 336 families who lost their breadwinner, at an average of USD 660. USD 199,933 was disbursed among 762 families whose breadwinners had sustained serious injuries; USD 822,103 as relocation fees to 1,930 families forced to vacate their homes as a result of Israeli military operations; USD 1,558,966 among 5,267 families with pressing emergency-related cash requirements, such as utility payments, which they could not otherwise afford to meet. In the West Bank, in February UNRWA extended cash assistance totalling USD 431,856 to 4,681 families who have lost their source of income since the start of the Intifada. Of these families, 2,673 reside in refugee camps, 721 in villages and 1,287 in towns. Since the start of the crisis, in the West Bank UNRWA has made USD 1,625,343 in grants to 19,348 families. UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 4 of 10

6 Emergency shelter repair and reconstruction By the end of February 2002, the running total of dwellings damaged beyond repair as a result of Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip reached 425. These had accommodated 590 families, a total of 3,342 persons. 490 refugee families, 2,750 persons, had been housed in 341 of these dwellings. Assessment of the economic and social conditions of these refugee families has so far concluded that 405 of them have no alternative housing to move to. Construction of housing for these families is contingent upon funds being available to UNRWA for this purpose, and on appropriate locations to be identified and donated by the Palestinian Authority. Construction continued of the first 64 housing units in the Tel es-sultan Quarter of Rafah to accommodate 67 refugee families, with 35 per cent of all the work completed by the end of February The forecast completion date remains mid-april Work on another 33 units in the same area commenced on 5 February 2002, with completion forecast for the end of May. In the West Bank UNRWA assisted 254 families with the cost of repairs to their homes damaged in fighting. The grants totalled USD 55,152. The majority of the families assisted reside in the Old City of Hebron (68) and the Tulkarm (88) refugee camp. The rest are in the Nur Shams refugee camp (29), in Bethlehem (19), Ramallah (16), the Askar (9), Balata (7), Arroub (4), and Jenin (2) refugee camps, in the village of Obeidieh (7) and Tulkarm (5). Post-injury physical and social needs A total of 743 persons with Intifada-related disabilities in the Gaza Strip have reported to the Agency s health centres for special care, including physical rehabilitation, prosthetic devices and cash assistance. Of this total, by the end of February, 70 had been referred to the Artificial Limbs and Polio Centre in Gaza, while 502 others received physiotherapy at UNRWA health centres. The modification of 12 shelters housing physically disabled people in the Gaza Strip had been completed by the end of February, towards facilitating their independent domestic activities. At the end of February, six more shelters due for modification were in the tendering stage and 64 others under design. The scope of these modifications varies from minor adaptation works, including widening doors and building ramps, to the reconstruction of rooms and toilets. In the West Bank UNRWA gave cash grants to 24 physically disabled individuals to enable them to obtain the prosthetic devices they require. It assisted 21 others with meeting the cost of modifying their homes. A total of 353 wheelchairs, walkers, crutches and similar aids were distributed among community organisations, to be lent out to those with temporary disabilities. Some 147 disabled persons made use of these aids during the month. Arrangements were made for seven individuals with disabilities to enrol in special education and rehabilitation programmes. A further 30 disabled persons and the family members who care for them participated in counselling, part of an effort to help them understand the special needs of the disabled. Also in the West Bank, six physiotherapy clinics, along with six additional teams hired since the start of the Intifada to provide community-based rehabilitation services for the injured and disabled, saw 341 patients in 1,347 sessions and 965 home visits. UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 5 of 10

7 Health During February 19 persons in the Gaza Strip injured in clashes with Israeli soldiers received first aid at UNRWA health centres or were transported to hospital by Agency ambulances. This brought to 1,354 the total number of persons assisted since the crisis began. Six ultrasound machines were received for UNRWA health centres in the Gaza Strip. The two mental health teams established in the Gaza Strip to respond to the growing incidence of psychological disorders, particularly among children and the young, which have resulted from the ongoing violence, assessed 325 individual cases during February. 69 of them needed follow-up or referral to specialised institutions. The teams carried out 127 visits to UNRWA schools, NGOs and community-based centres in refugee camps to provide guidance on the management of psychological problems, and reached a total of 1,495 persons. They also carried out 109 home visits to households where family members were reportedly suffering mental disturbances as a result of the crisis. In the West Bank, closures resulted in a loss of 184 person-days among UNRWA health staff during the month: 31 among physicians, 83 among nursing staff, 97 among paramedical staff and 13 among others in administrative and support positions. There were 135 additional medical staff in positions with the Agency either to replace staff who were unable to reach their places of work, or to help cope with the higher caseload. They included 10 medical officers, three dental surgeons, 10 staff nurses, 24 practical nurses, four midwives, 10 laboratory technicians, seven physiotherapists, one dental nurse and 13 assistant pharmacists. There were 32 additional staff assigned to Qalqilya Hospital, including one internist, two surgeons, two anaesthesiologists, one midwife, one paediatrician and one radiology technician. UNRWA s health department in the West Bank covered USD 8, in hospital bills for 12 patients in February. Some of these patients required emergency treatment or cardiac care. Others were infants born prematurely, who required lengthy stays in hospital. There were adequate supplies of medicines on hand in the health centres in both the Balata and Jenin camps when the IDF offensive began on 27 February. Both centres remained open in evening and night shifts, and treated many of the injured. Two of UNRWA's ambulances transported several with serious injuries to local hospitals. In anticipation of increased violence in the West Bank, all senior medical staff reviewed contingency plans. Following the incursions into the Balata and Jenin camps, hospitals in both Nablus and Jenin experienced shortages of essential medical supplies. UNRWA provided several of them with items such as intravenous fluids, bandages, cotton gauze, cannulae and anti-inflammatory drugs. UNRWA paramedic in his ambulance that was struck by army gunfire, Jenin camp Education With contributions toward the emergency appeals, in the West Bank there were 118 additional teachers on staff in February to take the place of teachers unable to reach their workplaces. There were 39 assigned to schools in and around Nablus, 46 in the area of UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 6 of 10

8 Hebron and 33 in the vicinity of Jerusalem. The 32 counsellors appointed in February 2001 continued their work with students under stress. In the Gaza Strip, remedial classes continued for children whose learning has been badly affected by the crisis. This involved around 35,000 pupils in the fourth, fifth and sixth elementary grades and 30,000 pupils in the three preparatory grades. Preparations for the development and production of self-learning materials for all 184,951 pupils at the Agency s schools in the Gaza Strip continued during the month. Distribution of materials is scheduled to begin in March. Education has been disrupted by the frequent and prolonged internal closures. Large numbers of pupils and teachers have been unable to reach school, negatively influencing pupil achievement. Since the uprising began, in the Gaza Strip over 123,000 teaching days are estimated to have been lost at UNRWA schools. After-school programmes including sports, cultural, arts and other activities continued at 40 of UNRWA s 169 schools in the Gaza Strip. Other emergency activities During February in the Gaza Strip, one tent, 16 blankets, 16 mattresses, two mats and one kit containing kitchen utensils were provided to a family whose home was demolished by the Israeli Army. Eight mattresses and eight blankets were issued to another family listed on UNRWA s special hardship rolls. Since the uprising began, UNRWA has provided a total of 350 tents, 78,942 blankets, 9,353 mattresses, 626 mats and 341 kitchen sets to families in the Gaza Strip. Monitoring and reporting The role of UNRWA s Operations Support Officers (OSOs) in the West Bank has become increasingly important in light of the escalating violence and tightening restrictions on movement. Without their assistance UNRWA operations would have been more severely disrupted. Almost daily in February, OSO teams were instrumental in negotiating the passage of staff travelling to and from the Field Office through checkpoints around Jerusalem. They did the same for staff moving between their homes and workplaces elsewhere, for example, between Ramallah and the Jalazone and Deir Ammar camps. Through their efforts, food and medical supplies reached their destinations. The teams routinely monitored the security of UNRWA installations. OSO teams have ensured the humane treatment of civilians during military operations. On 23 February, after the IDF had taken up positions on two floors of a family's home overlooking the Balata camp, and with the occupants (seven adults and 13 children) confined to the first floor, one team delivered medicines for sick family members. (One suffered from a heart ailment and one had recently been injured in a traffic Bullet damage at UNRWA Camp Services Office, Jenin Camp UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 7 of 10

9 accident.) In negotiations with the IDF officer in command, the team secured permission for the family to retrieve fresh clothing from apartments on the upper floors, as well as a gas cylinder for the stove. The team returned the following day with flour, rice, sugar, cooking oil, powered milk and tinned goods. Whenever possible, the teams assist other humanitarian service providers. On 23 February, for example, one of them negotiated the passage of two Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulances through a checkpoint on the outskirts of Nablus. They themselves have transported the sick to hospitals when there was no other available means. For example, on 19 February, one team transported an ill woman and her five-month-old child to the health centre in the Balata camp, after she had been denied permission to cross two checkpoints outside Nablus. Destroyed PRCS ambulance, Jenin Camp Obstacles encountered Severe Israeli military operations including air strikes, incursions into residential areas and strict restrictions imposed on the movement of goods and people have caused major problems for UNRWA operations. In the West Bank there were 1,550 absences recorded among teaching staff in February, 71 percent more than in January (904 absences). On average 82 teachers were absent each day. Absences were highest by far in the area around Nablus: 1,059 teachers' days were lost in UNRWA schools there. With IDF troops in the Balata and Jenin camps, no schools operated in either camp on 28 February (soldiers took up positions in the boys' school that day). Two girls, both of them students in UNRWA's schools in the Jenin camp, were killed in the first days of the Israeli military assault on the camp. One was a fourth-grader, and the other was enrolled in the preparatory school. UNRWA evacuated some of its schools in the Gaza Strip, as well as the Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired, Israeli military actions having caused varying degrees of damage to them. Over 4,000 students enrolled in six schools (that were accommodated in three school buildings in two shifts) have been transferred to other Agency schools in Gaza City. Children enrolled at the Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired, adjacent to the bombed Police Headquarters building in Gaza City, have been unable to attend school, as no other such facility is available in Gaza. These students will be unable to return to school while the threat of bombing lasts. Damage caused to the buildings and equipment in two different episodes (particularly on the night of 5/6 Elementary "B" Co-ed school, Gaza UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 8 of 10

10 March - just later than the reporting period for this report) is extensive. The Agency faces costs exceeding USD 31,000 for repairs and about USD 16,300 for equipment. As a result of internal closures, from the start of the emergency to the end of February, activities at the Gaza Training Centre have been brought to a complete halt for 28 full days. Arrangements have been made to lodge both trainees and staff, who cannot reach their homes whenever internal closures are in force, at the centre itself in Gaza City and at the Deir al-balah Youth Activities Centre in the middle area UNRWA has incurred additional financial costs from new procedures applied at commercial crossing points, damage to UNRWA installations and the temporary replacement of some Agency staff unable to report to work. In Gaza, UNRWA estimates that up to the end of January 2002, these additional costs amount to nearly USD 3.2 million. Key UNRWA staff members and senior managers on several occasions have been unable to report to work as a result of closures. Staff unable to report to their normal duty stations have, to the extent that this is possible, been re-deployed to work stations in their areas of residence, e.g. to local schools, health clinics or distribution centres. Others have been temporarily replaced with persons taken on under the emergency employment programme. Where appropriate, in the absence of supervisors who are unable to reach their workstations, less senior personnel have taken on higher responsibilities. Additional overtime costs have been incurred in order to cope with excessive workloads, both in order to deliver UNRWA s regular services as well as to carry out emergency activities. Key specialised members of staff and senior officers from the middle or southern areas of the Gaza Strip working at Gaza Field Office have been offered hotel accommodation in Gaza City. This nevertheless imposes additional costs on the emergency budget. In the Gaza Strip, from the beginning of the emergency to the end of February these costs have amounted to USD 53,752. Delivery of specialised medical care, including cardiology, paediatrics, diabetology, ophthalmology, obstetrics/gynaecology, dental and chest diseases, has been seriously disrupted at the Agency s health centres in the south and the middle areas of the Gaza Strip. Diagnostic services, including lab and x-ray tests, have also been curtailed in these areas. In addition, drugs and medical supplies to health centres in the south have been delivered only with difficulty. Food distribution in the middle area of the Gaza Strip under the regular special hardship programme has been disrupted several times as a result of internal closures. The area lacks adequate storage facilities where additional quantities of food supplies could be kept for such times when closures are in force. This problem is less at issue in the northern and southern areas, where greater storage facilities are available. Social workers are unable to assist poor families living in closed areas and those living on lines of confrontation. During tight closures the Agency s relief staff face difficulty or are unable to reach families where homes are demolished by the Israeli Army, and furnish them with emergency supplies, including tents, mattresses, blankets and cash assistance. Deteriorating economic conditions pose serious risks to the Agency s Micro-finance and Micro-enterprise Programme, which makes credit available to small and microenterprises. Repayment rates are lower and the portfolio at risk has grown. As the situation persists, more clients will be unwilling to make new investments or expand their existing businesses. Many are even expected to close down their businesses. Consequently, monthly loan disbursements and loan values will continue to decline, leading to lower income flows. UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 9 of 10

11 While work on construction projects, both regular and emergency, is progressing, the restrictions on movement are having an adverse effect both with regard to the rate of progress and the efficient management of these projects. For example, senior staff are often unable to attend site meetings or test construction materials, which is carried out at the Islamic University in Gaza City. In addition, contractors are often unable to reach the Agency s Field Office to resolve issues or problems arising. Since the beginning of the Intifada the main road to the Gaza landfill has been closed, forcing the Agency's garbage trucks to use alternate dirt roads to reach the dumping site. Consequent damage to the vehicles, and the additional time required for them to reach their destination, have imposed more financial burdens on the Agency. Annexes: A. Spreadsheets: pledges and contributions received (all appeals) as at 28 February. B. Combined expenditure report. Gaza photos: UNRWA/Adnan Abu Hasna West Bank: UNRWA/OSO Programme UNRWA Emergency Appeal Fourteenth Progress Report: February 2002 Page 10 of 10