Ein El Tal may be trapped without adequate shelter in rural areas around Aleppo where intense armed conflict continues to rage.

As the fighting in Syria enters its second year, the Palestinian refugee population there has not been spared. Five Palestinian children were killed in early March when they were caught by incoming gunfire and shelling. The previous month, 12 Palestinian refugees were killed by heavy weaponry in the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk; five of them were members of the same family.

Following that incident, UNRWA cautioned that the Palestinian refugees were unable to move around safely and faced severe restrictions owing to escalating threats from shelling and armed clashes, exacerbating vulnerabilities that existed prior to the Syrian conflict.

According to statistics released by UNRWA earlier this year, most Palestinian refugeesin Syria now rely on the Agency as their sole means of support. Several UNRWA schools in the country are currently acting as a last place of refuge for 9,000 people, while tens of thousands languish under harsh conditions in neighbouring countries. Moreover, some 20,000 people have fled to the over-crowded refugee camps of Lebanon.

The UN agency recalled that the events at Ein El Tal mirrored the “tragic experience” of other Palestinian refugee camps – Dera’a Camp, Yarmouk in Damascus City and Husseiniyeh, Khan Eshieh, Sbeineh, and Seida Zaynab Camps in the wider Damascus area – and urged all sides to the conflict to halt fighting in civilian areas.

“While continuing to respond to humanitarian crises affecting Palestinians in Syria, UNRWA condemns the conduct of armed conflict in civilian