The Department of Palestinian Affairs (DPA) Sunday called on donor countries and international organizations to honor their financial commitment to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

During a virtual meeting, Director General of the DPA Rafiq Khirfan urged host countries to support UNRWA as it is facing "dangerous and unprecedented" challenges, particularly financial issues that worsened during the coronavirus crisis.

Those challenges have negatively affected the quality of Palestinian refugees' lives, especially since UNRWA decided to pay their 28,000 employees' salaries in November and December in installments. Host countries were completely against UNRWA's payroll decision.

Khirfan called on UNRWA to prepare their general budget in cooperation and agreement with host countries, while taking into account the needs of refugees. He stressed the need for UNRWA services to continue supporting refugees to ensure stability, security and development of the region.