JERUSALEM, June 23, 2012 (WAFA) - The European Union supported impoverished Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with just under €9.9 million, an EU press release said on Friday.

This is the EU’s second contribution this year to the Palestinian Authority's quarterly payment of social allowances to Palestinian families in need in the West Bank and Gaza.

Eligible beneficiaries, who amount to 64,417 families with over half of them live in Gaza, are households living in extreme poverty registered under the cash transfer program of the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Social Affairs.

“The program is designed to provide basic safety net to poorest and most vulnerable Palestinians in the West bank and Gaza, through cash and in-kind assistance,” said the press release.

Most of the EU's assistance to the Palestinian Authority is channeled through PEGASE, the financial mechanism launched in 2008 to support the PA Reform and Development Plan (2008-2010) and the subsequent PA Palestinian National Plan (2011-2013).

Since February 2008, €1.34 billion have been disbursed through the PEGASE Direct Financial Support programs.

M.S.