NEW YORK, December 11, 2008 (WAFA)- Cash reserves of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees have dropped from $60 million in 2006 to just $1 million, enough for less than one day's average expenditure, said UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Filippo Grandi, warning of 'the very real prospect' of having to make cuts in basic education and health services.

'Effectively we are now running on empty,' Grandi said at the Agency's annual pledging conference at UN Headquarters in New York. 'As everyone can understand, driving a complex machine such as ours on little or no fuel dramatically raises the odds, sooner or later of a breakdown.'

On present projections, UNRWA is facing a deficit next year in excess of $150 million to its overall budget, with its General Fund requirement for 2009 standing at $545 million.

'The social, humanitarian and potentially political repercussions in this already volatile region do not need to be spelt out,' Grandi said. 'These new financial pressures come at a precarious time. Refugee needs are growing and becoming increasingly complex.

'Unless we get significant new or increased pledges in the next six months, there will be serious consequences for the refugees.'

Meanwhile, UNRWA managed to get 13 trucks into the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, with medicine and cooking oil, but the Agency said this was still not enough for the area, whose 1.5 million inhabitants have been subjected to a series of Israeli closures in recent months.

Last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced regret that Israel had not heeded his call to urgently permit the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza's citizens.He reiterated his condemnation of rocket attacks by militants in Gaza against Israel.