The U.N. agency tasked with ensuring the well-being of Palestinian refugees across the Middle East warned Monday that, despite reports of a truce between the Syrian government and armed groups inside Yarmouk camp, it is still unable to carry out humanitarian operations there. "It is now a month since we last distributed aid inside the camp," Chris Gunness, spokesman for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in a statement. "Following reports of a June 21 agreement ... inside Yarmouk, UNRWA is urgently seeking the resumption and expansion of its humanitarian activities inside [the camp], where conditions remain dire for the 18,000 civilians trapped there." Gunness said that the agency stands ready to implement a rapid humanitarian response so that the immediate and longer-term needs of the civilians of Yarmouk can be met. "UNRWA will continue to advocate for continuous, substantial and safe humanitarian access to Yarmouk, and to ensure the protection of Palestinian and Syrian civilians," Gunness said.
