Poverty rate among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon rises to over 90 pct: UN official

BEIRUT, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- The poverty rate among Palestinian refugees in Lebanon has increased to more than 90 percent, the National News Agency reported Wednesday, citing a UN official.

"Most of the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are unable to secure the daily life necessities," Leni Stenseth, deputy commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said during a press conference held at the UNRWA headquarters in Beirut.

Some Palestinian families have stopped sending their children to schools because of the high cost of transport, while others have reduced their daily meals, Stenseth told the press conference after her visit to Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.

She called for an urgent emergency plan to secure 13.2 million U.S. dollars before the end of the year to support the hospital and medical sectors and transport costs to guarantee proper education for children.

Hoda Samra, UNRWA's public information officer in Lebanon, told Xinhua that the steep increase in the poverty rate among Palestinians in Lebanon is attributed to the rapidly deteriorating socio-economic situation in the country, as well as the high cost of living and the low purchasing power of refugees.

At the beginning of 2022, the number was 75 percent and now it has soared to 93 percent, Smara noted.

The UNRWA estimates that 210,000 Palestinian refugees live in Lebanon.