Palestinian refugee communities in Lebanon are facing worsening hardship after UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was forced to reduce or close education and health services because of severe funding shortfalls, including the US regime’s February 2025 decision under President Donald Trump to maintain a funding freeze imposed the previous year. In Beirut’s Bourj el-Barajneh camp, residents such as Doumoua al-Baitan, a divorced mother of four who was born and raised there, say overcrowded classrooms, reduced medical support and shrinking work opportunities are changing daily life. The cuts have hit schools, clinics and social services across Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps, where many of the country’s approximately 230,000 Palestinians live as de facto stateless residents.
Key Takeaways: UNRWA says it needs about $70m–$80m more for 2026 and has cut service hours by 20 percent since February. Many schools have moved to a four-day week for the 2026–27 academic year, with more than 35,000 pupils in 58 schools. Only 15 of 26 primary healthcare centres and clinics were operational in UNRWA’s June 2026 emergency report, while 11 had shut down.
The crisis has deep roots. UNRWA has supported Palestinian refugees across the Middle East since 1950, a year after the 1948 Nakba displaced about 750,000 Palestinians during the establishment of Israel. Palestinians in Lebanon remain without citizenship and are effectively barred from professions including medicine, law, engineering and pharmacy, leaving the community among the country’s most vulnerable. UNRWA’s mandate covers education, healthcare, relief and social services, camp infrastructure, microfinance and emergency assistance, so funding gaps quickly translate into reduced protection for families with few alternatives.
In Bourj el-Barajneh, residents told Al Jazeera that most camp schools had been shut and students were being crammed into classes of 40 or more. Al-Baitan said her children “cannot retain what they are taught in class” and that she now pays $200 a month — the same as her rent — for two children to attend after-school lessons. UNRWA spokesperson Fadi al-Tayyar told Al Jazeera in October that the agency needed the additional $70m–$80m for 2026, forcing a 20 percent reduction in service working hours since February. A Jafra Foundation monthly report warned that the shortfall threatens education, healthcare, water and sanitation services for millions of Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
The strain is compounded for the most vulnerable. Lebanon hosts between 3,000 and 5,000 undocumented Palestinian refugees and an estimated 19,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria, many of whom fled the 13-year war there. A policy change in May 2024 halted residency renewals for many Palestinians from Syria, increasing their exposure to detention and making it harder to find work and access services. UNRWA’s reduced hours and closures add further pressure on households already coping with poverty, legal insecurity and limited employment.
The outlook remains fragile. UNRWA’s funding gap is not expected to close without renewed donor commitments, and agency officials warn that further cuts could affect the next academic year and primary healthcare. For families in Bourj el-Barajneh, the immediate decisions are local: whether to pay for extra lessons, how to reach a clinic that is still open, and how to keep children in school. The wider question is whether donor governments will restore predictable support before the shortfall turns into another permanent reduction in services for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
Source: www.aljazeera.com