●● Eligibility for support from the
government’s
Social
Security
Corporation is limited to those who
work in the formal sector.26 This
criterion excludes the majority of
ex-Gazans and PRS. Nevertheless,
emergency aid through the National
Aid Fund has been extended to include
household heads of ex-Gazans and
Palestinian refugees without travel
document working in the informal
sector.
Access to health services provided at
UNRWA PHC facilities has been limited due to travel restrictions placed
upon staff, but the Agency resumed
essential services after concluding
an agreement with the government.
Nonetheless, certain health services,
like vaccinations, have been postponed.
Recent directives on repatriation of
citizens abroad includes ex-Gazans
who hold temporary Jordanian passports.
Charities operating in Palestinian
refugee camps have experienced
difficulties in obtaining the necessary
permits for the delivery of aid.
Lebanon
●● As of May 26, there are 1,119 confirmed
cases of COVID-19 in Lebanon, seven
of which involve Palestinian refugees.
●● On April 22, a Palestinian woman
from Syria became the first refugee
residing in a camp in Lebanon to test
positive for COVID-19. Two days later,
four relatives of the woman tested
positive, with one more confirmed
case registered since.
●● UNRWA health centers currently
offer critical services only, to reduce
crowdedness. The Agency is covering
the costs for Palestinian refugees in
need of care for COVID-19 at external
6
facilities, in collaboration with the
Palestinian Embassy in Beirut. UNRWA
and Médecins Sans Frontières also
opened up an isolation center in
Siblin.
●● Palestinian refugees have been
excluded from repatriation flights to
Lebanon from abroad, leaving them
stranded in third countries without
financial support.
●● The
Lebanese
Al
Jomhouria
newspaper published a caricature on
the Lebanese Civil War Memorial Day
comparing Palestinian refugees to the
COVID-19 virus, further exacerbating
stigma and xenophobia.
●● Palestinian refugees have experienced
obstacles in getting tested for
COVID-19 as Lebanese hospitals have
been turning away undocumented
people or setting prohibitively high
costs for testing services.
●● The COVID-19 crisis has aggravated the
pre-existing economic crisis, leading
to a rise in costs of basic foodstuff in
the entire country. For instance, the
price of a food basket is estimated to
have increased by more than 25 per
cent following the pandemic. This
drastically affects the affordability of
basic products for vulnerable groups,
including Palestinian refugees.
●● The economic instability has led
to a continuous decline in job
opportunities,
particularly
for
Palestinians. It is estimated that 90%
of all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon
have lost work as a result of the
pandemic.
●● Palestinian refugee camps have
been excluded from the government
sanitization campaign, but separate
campaigns were organized by several
NGOs and individual Palestinian
refugees, covering all refugee camps.
●● UNRWA relief assistance to registered