The UN resumed some services Tuesday at a south Lebanon refugee camp, despite a decision last week to suspend its work in the camp "indefinitely" over security concerns, a source told The Daily Star.
Trash collection resumed after piles of garbage had accumulated on the streets of Ain al-Hilweh when UNRWA employees, who collect trash daily and transfer it to a waste plant in nearby Sidon, temporarily stopped working.
UNRWA's decision to suspend its activities in the camp followed a recent soaring in tensions and sporadic clashes between rival factions.
Trucks began loading trash from more than six dumps around the camp, but the source said the crisis persists, as the workers "don't dare to enter restive neighborhoods."
"I am collecting trash from our al-Tiri neighborhood as [the crisis] became unbearable. My friends also volunteered to collect trash," 11-year-old Ain al-Hilweh resident Khaled Khattab told The Daily Star.
One health clinic also opened its doors and UNRWA officials discussed the possibility of reopening UNRWA schools.
Reem Mekkawi, 6, said that she was left without school because her mother told her that the "situation at the camp wasn't safe."
UNRWA runs two medical clinics in the camp, which provide care and medication to the local community. The centers employ dozens of doctors and nurses and they are visited by hundreds of patients every day.
One of the clinics will remain closed, as it is located in a tense area at the camp.
The agency also operates nine schools inside the camp, which provide education to thousands of students. The administrative and educational team alone employs over 250 staff members.
It also undertakes garbage collection and street cleaning services in the camp.
Movement remained slow on Fawqani street, which leads to the tense Safsaf neighborhood, as Fatah members lingered in their positions.
The recent clashes ensued after the assassination of a prominent local Islamist in a neighborhood where the extremist group, Osbat al-Ansar, maintains a strong presence.
The fighting left four dead and several injured before a fragile truce was agreed. Despite the truce, sporadic acts of violence continued and culminated in the fatal shooting of Fatah supporter Ibrahim Mansour.
This brought the overall death toll of the most recent clashes and its aftermath to six.
Ain al-Hilweh is the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon.
By Mohammed Zaatari
