The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) issued a statement on Tuesday cancelling the race on 10 April and expressing its disappointment at the new and intractable position of the Gaza authorities, which have permitted women to run alongside men for the past two years.
"This number continues to increase by the hour," UNRWA said in a statement on Tuesday, raising its emergency funding appeal to $115 million from $60 million.
* Three hospitals among 18 damaged health facilities (adds statements by UNRWA and WHO).
Unrwa issued a strongly worded statement about the Israeli military when a team including an international weapons expert visited the school at Beit Hanoun which came under attack on Thursday, causing at least 15 deaths and 200 injuries.
"It is my responsibility to inform the international community that humanitarian conditions in the besieged refugee camp of Yarmouk are worsening dramatically and that we are currently unable to help those trapped inside," said the director general of UNRWA, Filipo Grandi, in a statement.
In an official statement Wednesday, the UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Kranhenbuhl wrote: "Children killed in their sleep; this is an affront to all of us, a source of universal shame.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said in a statement that 63,173 people have sought safe sanctuary with UNRWA in 55 shelters across the Gaza Strip.
UNICEF on Gaza: Using or attacking school premises is unacceptable AMMAN, 25 July 2014 - Statement about attack on an UNRWA school in Gaza by Maria Calivis, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa More than 80 children killed in Gaza conflict KUALA LUMPUR, 21 July 2014 – As the conflict in Gaza continues, children and families continue to suffer the brunt of the siege.
According to the statement, the incident took place "after Unrwa staff had earlier refused to hand over the aid supplies to the Hamas-run Ministry of Social Affairs.
"The children participating here today embody the generous spirit of the Palestinian people, empathizing with others despite the horrible and disastrous conditions they themselves face on a daily basis," UNRWA operations director Robert Turner said in a press statement.
