The United Nations warns that the “vulnerability and isolation” of Palestinian refugees have reached an unprecedented level in generations.

Pierre Krahenbuhl, the commissioner-general for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in an address to the UN Fourth Committee on Tuesday that Palestinian refugees “feel more left behind” today than ever.

Their vulnerability has “intensified reaching levels not seen in generations as conflicts expand in the Middle East region and thrust one community after another into extreme insecurity,” Krahenbuhl said, adding, “For Palestine refugees, many already subjected to severe inequalities and discrimination, the present situation has created a new existential crisis; where possible, flight is a choice of escape, as they join the refugee exodus within the region and flowing into Europe.”

The UN official also stated that about 1.3 million Palestinians live in “dire conditions” in Gaza, noting, “The illegal blockade of Gaza remains in place subjecting Palestinians to collective punishment and denying all but a few the opportunities to lead normal lives, including by interacting with the outside world.”.

Krahenbuhl also noted that unemployment has reached 42 percent in Gaza and the besieged territory’s economy “de-developed” in 2014 with a negative growth of 15%.

“If all these indicators of severe stress were not enough to provoke feelings of despair, imagine how Palestine refugees felt when there was a risk of 250,000 schoolchildren in Gaza not going to UNRWA schools in autumn,” he said.

The official also criticized the UN agency’s budget fall from $135 million to $81 for 2016, calling on international donors to make further contributions.

According to UNRWA, over 1.5 million Palestinians - almost a third of the registered Palestinian refugees - live in 58 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the besieged Gaza Strip and West Bank.

UNRWA is tasked with providing assistance and protection to a population of some five million registered Palestine refugees.