JERUSALEM, June 23, 2017 (WAFA) – The European Union (UN) made a contribution of €20 million to the Palestinian Authority‘s (PA) quarterly payment of social allowances to poor Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza, said the EU in a press release on Friday.

According to the press release, the EU funds will cover the social allowances for more than 70,000 families. More than two thirds of them live in the besieged Gaza Strip.

This quarterly payment is channeled in times of heightened tensions in Gaza and a difficult situation for the people living there.

The EU supports the Ministry of Social Development to serve vulnerable families through an inclusive and equitable social protection system. The social allowances are paid to households living in extreme poverty who are registered in the cash transfer programme of the Ministry of Social Development.

“Today‘s payment of social allowances is made at the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is the month of social solidarity and compassion in the Muslim world. The EU remains committed to the contributions to the Cash Transfer Programme to ensure social protection for the poor and vulnerable" said the EU Representative Ralph Tarraf.

K. F.