Pact for $4.5 million signed to aid 4,400 stranded Gazans in West Bank

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Qatar Red Crescent and the U.N. agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) signed an agreement on Sunday, with $4.5 million from a Qatari state development fund, to aid more than 4,400 stranded Palestinian workers and patients from Gaza in the West Bank.

"[The] cash assistance will represent vital support for those displaced who have not been able to return to the Gaza Strip since the start of the Israeli aggression on the Strip last October," a statement from the Qatar's state news agency said.

"Thousands of Palestine refugees from Gaza remain trapped in the West Bank, trapped in this crisis situation, stranded from their loved ones and livelihoods," UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said.

Since Israel's blockade of Gaza began in 2007, movement in and out of the Strip has been heavily restricted, forcing individuals to seek medical care, education, or jobs in the West Bank, while escalating violence often closes borders, trapping those in need of essential services.

(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Adam Makary; Editing by David Evans)