The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) will reopen in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after days of closure due to protests against aid cuts, deputy UN spokesman Eduardo del Buey said here Monday.

"Based on the assurances it has received from different local parties, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees ( UNRWA) will reopen its installations across the Gaza Strip effective tomorrow, Tuesday, 9 April," del Buey said at a daily news briefing here.

"The Relief and Works Agency was forced to close its distribution and relief offices last week due to ongoing demonstrations that affected its operations, which hindered the Agency's ability to provide much-needed services and relief supplies to Palestine refugees in Gaza," he said.

The UNRWA closed 22 food distribution centers in the coastal enclave on Thursday after angry demonstrators broke into its main headquarters in Gaza City.

The violent protests came after the UN humanitarian organization halted its cash aid to 21,000 Gaza families due to a 68-million-U.S.-dollar shortage in its annual budget.

The UNRWA replaced the cash aid with a temporary employment program for 10,000 families, but the Palestinians say the program do not last for long.

The UNRWA provides education, health care and food to Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries.

"While the Agency understands the frustration of the population, heightened by the tightened blockade on the Gaza Strip, and it respects the right to peaceful demonstrations, the Relief and Works Agency must ensure the safety and security of its staff," del Buey said. "It reaffirms that while it is re-opening these facilities now, if its staff or facilities are threatened or its operations are hindered by demonstrations in the future, it will again be forced to close those installations." Endi

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