United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
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Assalaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh,
I write to you with a heart full of gratitude. Jazakum Allahu Khair for standing with Palestine Refugees throughout 2025 - a year of immense hardship, met with extraordinary generosity from supporters like you.
Across the region, Palestine Refugees face immense hardship. In Gaza, more than 70,000 people have been killed since the start of the war. Among them nearly 400 of our own UNRWA colleagues, including teachers, doctors, nurses, and other dedicated staff. May they rest in eternal peace. Even after the ceasefire, countless families remain displaced and grieving. In the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Palestine Refugees are facing record levels of violence, destruction of camp communities, and rapid settlement expansion. In Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, refugees continue to endure rising poverty, and the prolonged impact of instability.
Throughout these challenges, UNRWA remained a lifeline. In Gaza, our 11,500 Palestinian staff worked every single day throughout the war; opening temporary learning spaces, providing medical care, restoring water wells, distributing food and cash assistance, and supporting children through trauma. Across the rest of our fields of operation, our teams sustained education, healthcare, sanitation, and emergency services for millions who rely on us.
Your Zakat and Sadaqah made this possible. In 2025, our Islamic Giving programme, through UNRWA and its national committee, UNRWA USA, raised more than US$ 23 million, supporting around 280,000 Palestine Refugees. Emergency food and cash assistance helped families meet their most urgent needs; food, medicine, winter clothing, and dignity. Children returned to classrooms. Patients received care. Communities gained access to clean water, sanitation, and shelter.
Zakat was central to this response. In full alignment with Sharia, 100% of Zakat funds were distributed with zero administrative or operational fees. Every contribution was delivered directly to the most vulnerable families as food and cash assistance.
As the Director of Partnerships, I want to assure you that every dinar, dollar, and dirham is safeguarded as an amanah - sacred trusts from believers who want their charity to reach those whom Allah commanded us to help.
We end 2025 humbled by your compassion and faith. May Allah bless your families, your wealth, and your good deeds.
Thank you for choosing UNRWA as your partner in Zakat and Sadaqah.
With sincere gratitude,
Karim Amer
Director of Partnerships, UNRWA
On behalf of our UNRWA teams across Gaza, the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria
In 2025, Islamic Giving was a lifeline for Palestine Refugees across Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan. Through UNRWA’s 100% Zakat distribution policy, food and cash assistance helped families meet their basic needs with dignity. Sadaqah supported emergency relief, education, healthcare, and access to clean water.
Total Islamic Giving Contributions
$23M
USD
Syria — Zakat, Cash for Rehabilitation
Returning home was not what Emad and Nadia had imagined. After years of displacement, the couple came back to Yarmouk Camp in 2024, only to find their home reduced to rubble. It brought grief, but equally, renewed hope.
“Everything in the house is gone,” Nadia recalls. “All our memories were just ashes.”
For over a decade, the couple lived away from their home, carrying the weight of nostalgia and uncertainty. The thought of rebuilding seemed challenging, yet the desire to go back to the place where they had lived and raised their family was stronger than their fears. And so, they returned.
Amid the grief and uncertainty, hope returned when they saw UNRWA’s work in the camp. Witnessing the organisation’s dedication to helping families rebuild their homes gave Emad and Nadia the courage to finally return.
With UNRWA’s cash-for-rehabilitation assistance, they were finally able to rebuild their home, step by step reclaiming the security and comfort that had been lost. “ Alhamdulilah, the house is a palace compared to before. I never imagined I’d live in something like this,” Nadia says, her voice filled with gratitude.
Today, Emad encourages others to return to Yarmouk. “The more people come back, the better it becomes for all of us. Life returns,” he says.
Thanks to your Zakat, Emad and Nadia could repair their walls and roofs, rebuild their home, and resettle their son - restoring not only their house, but the life they once knew in Yarmouk Camp.
Your generosity has restored communities, renewed hope, and given families like Emad and Nadia the courage to look to the future with and hope.
In 2026, UNRWA aims to assist around 5,000 families who are waiting for the chance to rebuild their homes and their lives.
Individuals Supported Through Islamic Giving
279,383
100%
Gaza—Zakat, Cash Assistance
When Haneen and her sister Dina arrived in Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, they had already been displaced countless times. Pregnant and without help, Haneen carried the full responsibility of caring for Dina, who is an adolescent with intellectual impairment and needs constant care. Haneen faced it all. Her husband went missing during the war. Their home was destroyed, they had to leave their parents behind, and displacement left them with nothing. “I had no tent, no clothes. I couldn’t get her treatment,” Haneen said.
Amid overwhelming needs, Haneen received a message from UNRWA notifying her that her family had been eligible for emergency cash assistance for families fostering unaccompanied and separated children with disabilities. For the first time since their displacement, Haneen could provide for Dina’s most urgent necessities: hygiene supplies, clothes and the medication she could not otherwise access.
For people like Haneen, your Zakat provides dignity, stability, and relief in moments of uncertainty. It allows caregivers to meet urgent needs and ensures that people like Dina are cared for despite unimaginable hardships.
Yet the needs remain immense. “If the support from UNRWA ends, we’ll be back to zero,” Haneen says. Her words show the fragility of their situation and the impact of your Zakat.
Through cash assistance, we have supported families in vulnerable conditions across Gaza, helping them secure food, hygiene supplies, medicine, shelter, and basic necessities. Thanks to your Zakat, UNRWA can continue to respond to the immense needs in Gaza.
Zakat Contributions
$19.5M
USD
Number of Supporters of Islamic Giving Programme
47,168
Lebanon — Zakat, Food and Cash Assistance
In Beddawi camp, northern Lebanon, Rana, a 39-year-old mother of four, lives in a small home of one room, roofed with zinc sheets that barely protect her family from the heat of summer or the cold of winter. Despite the harsh conditions, she strives to provide a decent life for her children.
During Ramadan, her days begin before dawn as she wakes her three children for Suhoor and prepares them for school. They all attend UNRWA schools in the camp. After sending them off, she heads to the supermarket to buy food for Iftar, yet high prices often force her to repeat meals or cook simple dishes.
Thanks to many generous people around the world supporting UNRWA’s work with their Zakat, despite all the challenges, her table is filled with warmth and love. “I feel happy when I see them eating,” she shares. Thanks to your Zakat that supports UNRWA’s food and cash assistance programme, Rana can provide her family with rice, pasta, and other essential items.
In this blessed month, mothers like Rana stand strong, keeping the warmth of home alive for their children despite the hardships around them. With your Zakat, families like hers can gather around Iftar tables, sharing meals, laughter, and moments of hope that brighten even the hardest days.
In every shared meal and every moment of togetherness, her family finds strength and comfort. Rana concludes with a heartfelt prayer: “I wish for my children a decent life and a bright future, and for peace and security for the whole world.”
Sadaqah & Sadaqah Jariyah Donations
$3.5M
USD
Gaza – Sadaqah Jariyah, Water Wells
Every morning at the UNRWA shelter in Nuseirat camp in Gaza, Teta Um Ali prepares to collect clean water for her children and grandchildren before the day’s supply runs out.
She and her grandchildren follow the same daily routine of filling containers with just enough drinking water for the 19 family members, sharing one room in an UNRWA school-turned-shelter. “We receive four containers,” she explains. “Just enough for one day.”
Yet the daily struggles of not finding clean water continue. When safe water doesn’t arrive, families are forced to rely on salty water instead - a harsh reality in Gaza, where shortages and disruptions are part of everyday life. These are choices no parent or grandparent should ever be pushed to make.
This is where your Sadaqah Jariyah through UNRWA becomes lifesaving.
Your generosity helps UNRWA to secure clean water for families living in overcrowded shelters like Teta Um Ali. Giving families the chance to cook safely, stay healthy, and maintain dignity in unimaginable conditions. “I don’t know what we would do without UNRWA,” she says, “the water here is our lifeline.”
It also enables UNRWA engineers, technicians and staff to repair existing wells, set up new water points, manage distribution centres and desalination systems to ensure water keeps flowing daily.
Your Sadaqah Jariyah does more than fill containers with clean water. It keeps children healthy, brings stability to displaced families, and offers relief where it is most desperately needed. Thanks to your continued support, families like Teta Um Ali’s can face each day with dignity and hope, knowing they have not been forgotten.
Individuals Supported Through Clean Water
23,800
*As of Q1 2026, impact figures reflect assistance already delivered and assistance that has been funded, allocated, and is currently being implemented.
UNRWA’s Islamic Giving Programme enables supporters to fulfill their Zakat and Sadaqah in full accordance with Sharia, while directly uplifting the most vulnerable Palestine Refugees. With a strict 100% Zakat distribution policy, every contribution goes entirely to eligible families through life-sustaining food and cash assistance, alleviating the hardship of those living in poverty. Backed by leading Islamic institutions, the programme ensures trusted delivery to beneficiaries. Donations UNRWA receives through Sadaqah, a voluntary act of charity in Islam, directly contributes to running our education and healthcare, and to the provision of water to Palestine Refugees.
UNRWA is honoured to work with partners who share our mission to support Palestine Refugees with dignity. Their commitment strengthens our reach and impact, ensuring vulnerable families receive the assistance they urgently need. We are deeply grateful for their trust.
Muslim Hands is an international NGO operating in over 20 countries, dedicated to supporting communities affected by disasters, conflicts, and poverty. An UNRWA partner since 2020, Muslim Hands provides essential food, water, healthcare, and emergency aid to displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
Mercy Mission is Europe's largest donor advised fund with a specialism in Islamic social capital. We focus on optimizing the impact our clients have and take a civil society approach to ensure the funds we deploy improve lives for all. We have been proud to support UN agencies for over a decade now, and are committed to supporting the excellent work of UNRWA.
Hasene International is a global charity based in Germany and Türkiye, dedicated to providing critical humanitarian aid to vulnerable communities worldwide. As a trusted UNRWA partner since 2020, Hasene supports Palestine Refugees with lifesaving assistance across Gaza, Jordan, and Lebanon.
FROM Our donors
Hasene International continues to stand in solidarity with Palestine Refugees and to support UNRWA’s vital humanitarian work. We recognize the critical importance of UNRWA’s efforts and reaffirm our ongoing commitment to humanitarian principles, solidarity, and shared responsibility.
Hasene International
Mercy Mission UK is truly honoured to stand with UNRWA in helping provide critical healthcare for Palestine Refugees in Syria. In a time when so many families are carrying unimaginable burdens, we hope our support brings even a small measure of relief and dignity to those in need. We are deeply moved by the strength of the communities you serve and by the unwavering dedication of UNRWA’s teams on the ground.
Mercy Mission UK
As Muslims, we are all brothers and sisters - one family. It is our duty to care for each other. I want to share the little rizq [income] Allah has given me, even if it’s not much, because I believe every bit of help can ease someone’s burden. I pray for the safety, peace, and dignity of all my Muslim brothers and sisters around the world.
Ridwan from Myanmar
The Palestinian people need our support and UNWRA is the most important organisation on the ground to supply medical care, food, education and so much more. Solidarity to UNWRA staff and Palestinians!
Corinna from the United Kingdom
The least we can do is donate. We can all do something — so that, by Allah’s will, organizations like yours help people survive. Thank you for the incredible work you do.
Neila from Australia
We are honoured to partner with UNRWA to deliver urgent support to the people of Palestine. The Sadaqah and Zakat given by our donors has been a lifeline to thousands of vulnerable people, including orphans and children with disabilities. The generosity of our supporters has provided clean drinking water, direct financial assistance, and access to vital healthcare services. We look forward to collaborating with UNRWA to reach even more people in need in 2026.
Muslim Hands UK
In these dark times, UNRWA gives light to children, women and men in Palestine. Light by Education, Health Care and other life-saving services. There is no alternative for UNRWA.
Peter from Belgium
Through the endorsements of trusted Islamic institutions, UNRWA manages contributions with transparency, integrity, and full compliance with Shariah principles.
The International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) is a global scholarly organization established in 1981. Its members are eminent Muslim jurists, scholars, researchers, and intellectuals across various fields of knowledge. The Academy is dedicated to providing guidance on contemporary issues in accordance with Shariah, including charitable giving and Zakat.
Al-Azhar Mosque and University is one of the oldest and most respected centers of Islamic scholarship in the world, with a legacy spanning over a millennium. Recognized for its expertise in Islamic jurisprudence, Al-Azhar provides guidance on matters of Shariah, including the proper collection and distribution of Zakat.
Al-Aqsa Mosque holds profound religious significance for Muslims for being the third holiest site in Islam. Its role in Zakat fatwa focuses on the ethical responsibility of donors to give for those in need.
