Palestine Refugees in the Gaza Strip

In 1948, following the Palestine war, 200,000 Arabs took refuge in the Gaza Strip; they have received help from the International Red Cross. The Egyptian Government, the Quakers, and, since 1950, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
The refugees were concentrated in nine camps. Feeding, health, education, welfare, sanitation and the high birth rate were acute problems. UNRWA undertook to distribute food rations and clothing, and set up clinics and general health services, schools (practical as well as theoretical), social welfare centres and recreation facilities.
The inactivity of the refugees is one of UNRWA's main problems on the Gaza Strip, there being almost no employment possibilities for them. Social centres, with sport facilities, reading rooms and games, are one way to keep the young refugees busy.
Captain Moshen Hussein, Deputy to the General Supervisor of Refugees, has a chat with a little boy in one of the camps.
[1954]