EU starts aid payments to the Palestinians

Brussels — The European Commission has started social allowance payments to those in urgent need in the Palestinian Territories. This means that all three elements of the Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) developed by the European Commission, at the request of the European Council and of the Middle East Quartet (EU, US, UN and Russia), are now up and running.

The three elements agreed in June were support for health services, utilities, and social allowances. The new allowances of around EUR 270 each will be made to those who have suffered a significant loss of income due to the financial crisis, to pensioners and other social hardship cases. Earlier actions under the TIM have included delivery of fuel to hospitals and water pumps to protect public health, and social allowance payments to Palestinian doctors and nurses, to enable them to continue to work.

So far the TIM has benefited:

* 413 primary health care centres and 22 hospitals, which have received essential medical supplies and running costs;

* 1.3 mln people in the Gaza strip have access to water, health care and sanitation;

* 625,000 people will benefit from social allowances, including 11,500 health workers;

* Payments of additional allowances will depend on pledges received from other donors;

* TIM has delivered over 1.5 mln litres of fuel to ensure the continued supply of energy, in particular for hospitals and water sanitation in the Gaza Strip following the destruction of the Gaza power plant in July.

The Commission has allocated EUR 105 mln to the TIM bringing the total made available from the Community Budget so far this year to the Palestinian people to EUR 330 mln. So far, EU Member States are contributing around EUR 60 mln to the TIM.