Shortly before Christmas 1948, the United Nations invited the Service Committee to undertake direction of its refugee relief program in southern Palestine. On the narrow 25-mile strip of Egyptian-controlled territory stretching west along the Mediterranean shore and south along the Egyptian border, virtually the entire Egyptian army, a few local residents and about 200,000 Arab refugees were concentrated. The Service Committee was one of three agencies asked by the United Nations to administer its relief program in the Middle East. United Nations relief for refugees in the Arab states is directed by the League of Red Cross Societies , while the International Committee of the Red Cross handles United Nations supplies in Israel. The Service Committee's agreement with the United Nations was scheduled through August 1949.
This film from 1949 shows the work of the Service Committee in Gaza with the Palestinian refugees.