Agreement on huge spending bill Reached between Congress and the White House The deal is expected to include a ban on direct U.S. funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the main humanitarian agency working in Gaza, until March 2025, three people familiar with the negotiations said. A source confirmed this to CBS News.
The White House did not mention aid cuts on Tuesday when it expressed broad support for the general agreement with Congress, which President Biden has promised to sign immediately if passed.
UNRWA, which provides education, health and social services to an estimated 6 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, said there would be a “significant gap” in the agency's funding if aid was cut off. Says.
“This could undermine efforts to assist starving Gazans and further weaken regional stability,” the agency said in a statement Wednesday.
Supporters of continued aid say it is unconscionable to cut aid at a time when starvation is imminent in Gaza. The Biden administration said in January: Temporarily suspend new funding to UNRWA A United Nations investigation into Israeli claims that 12 personnel took part in the deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack in Israel that killed at least 1,200 people is pending. According to the agency, the number of employees exceeds 30,000. Following Israel's announcement, the United Nations fired 10 of those employees, announced that two others had died, and launched an investigation.
The State Department had already provided $121 million to UNRWA this year before the U.S. halted funding, spokesman Matthew Miller said in January. Previously, full-year amounts have been between $300 million and $400 million annually. 2018, then-President Donald Trump Cut all US funding to UNRWAcriticized it as “irreparably flawed,'' but Biden regained support in 2021.
U.S. intelligence agencies found Israel's claims credible but did not conduct their own analysis, relying instead on an assessment of information provided by Israel. The Biden administration's current suspension has no end date pending the outcome of a UN review and reassessment of all UNRWA staff. Now, this parliamentary agreement on so-called “minibuses” legally prohibits funding, thus tying the administration's hands.
The United States has historically been the largest donor to UNRWA, and UNRWA is the agency with the largest infrastructure for distributing aid within the 40 km Gaza Strip. on sunday, Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland warned: “Face the state.” That business closures would have dire consequences.
“A complete cut off of funding to UNRWA and Gaza would mean many more people going hungry and without the medical aid they need, so it would be a big mistake to cut them off,” Van Van said. Whalen said. He went further, claiming that dismantling UNRWA is a long-standing political goal of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing government.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu wants to eliminate UNRWA because he sees it as a vehicle to carry on the Palestinian people's desire for a homeland,” Van Hollen said. “And this was his main objective: to prevent a two-state solution.”
On Wednesday, shortly after Secretary of State Antony Blinken's visit, Saudi Arabia announced it would donate $40 million to UNRWA.
UNICEF, an agency that focuses on children and works with UNRWA, says at least 13,000 children have died in the Israeli-Hamas war and others are buried under rubble. It is reported that there may be. Those who survived face severe malnutrition, with 31% of children under the age of two currently suffering in northern Gaza, according to UNICEF.
The UN agency also reports that 81% of households in the Gaza Strip lack clean water and nine out of 10 people do not have enough food to survive. The US estimates that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Dr Margaret Harris of UN World said: 'Doctors and medical staff are telling us that the effects of hunger are becoming increasingly severe. Newborns are simply dying because their birth weights are too low. I can see it happening,” he said. Health Authority, Tuesday.
Blinken is scheduled to visit Israel on Friday, where the State Department will discuss “international efforts to dramatically expand and continue the delivery of humanitarian assistance to civilians suffering from a lack of adequate food supplies.” Announced.
UNRWA reports that an average of just 159 aid trucks per day were allowed to cross into the Gaza Strip in the first 17 days of March, “well below the operational capacity” of the crossing. However, the target of 500 units per day has not been reached. The Israeli drone attack occurred on or near the aid convoy.
“Security governing the crossing has been seriously affected after several Palestinian police officers were killed in an Israeli airstrike near the crossing in early February,” UNRWA said in a Wednesday report. Strikes in Israel have had a complex development, with breakdowns in internal order and criminal activity also complicating distribution.
In February, former U.S. Ambassador David Satterfield, the Biden administration's special envoy for humanitarian affairs in the Middle East, spoke at a think tank in Washington about Israeli Defense Force attacks on police forces in the Gaza Strip that were escorting a U.N. aid convoy. He said the strike was complicating efforts to protect and distribute aid.
The U.S. military has been airdropping food and is still in the process. Floating dock built 3 miles off the Gaza coast To deliver more aid. U.S. Navy officials said the effort would require 1,000 troops and take 60 days to begin. Because no U.S. military presence is allowed in Gaza, decisions about who will distribute aid and provide security for trucks entering the area are still being discussed with other partners, officials said. Ta.
Reuters first reported on Congress' aid cuts, which said the text of the funding agreement has not yet been made public but is expected to be published within 24 hours.
— Ellee Watson, Olivia Gazis and Camila Schick contributed reporting.
