国际英语新闻:UN employees in Gaza protest against U.S. fund cuts

RAMALLAH/GAZA, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Health centers, schools and food distribution headquarters in Gaza were closed on Monday due to a one-day general strike by employees of the UN agency that serves the Palestinians (UNRWA).

Secretary-General of the UNRWA employees' union Yousef Hamdouna told reporters that the aim of the general strike is to force donor states to pressure the U.S. to reverse its decision.

Hamdouna said that his union has decided to take the first step of protesting against the Washington's decision to reduce the fund provided to UNRWA.

More than half of the two million people in the Gaza Strip are dependent on support from UNRWA and other humanitarian agencies. Unemployment in the enclave stands at 46 percent.

UNRWA provides services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The agency was established in 1949 after the establishment of the Israeli state displaced more than 700,000 Palestinians.

Ninety percent of the indigenous population was either internally displaced or made refugees. They still wait to return to their ancestral homelands.

The U.S. President Donald Trump recently cut his country's contribution to UNWRA by more than half.

The budget of the humanitarian organization comes primarily from the U.S. and European countries.