The United Nations on Monday implored member countries to fill a critical funding gap that the Trump administration created by sharply cutting the U.S. contribution to a program that helps Palestinian refugees across the Middle East.
The U.N. held a conference to raise money for basic services – from food assistance and medical care to sanitation – for 5 million refugees in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. (Unlike all other refugees in the world, when it comes to the Palestinians, not only are those who fled in the 1948 conflict counted as refugees, but also their descendants, leading to exponential growth in their numbers.)
After the session, the United Nations was still tallying how much was pledged by which countries against this year's shortfall of $250 million facing the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, which leads the relief efforts.
Pierre Krahenbuhl, the agency's director, said the 50% funding cut by the United States, the program's top donor, is endangering basic services such as food assistance in Gaza and medical clinics spread among the five areas, while about 500,000 children may not be able to start the school year in September.
"The situation of Palestinians is defined by great anxiety and uncertainty, first because Palestinian refugees do not see a solution to their plight on the horizon," Krahenbuhl said at a briefing before the conference.
Gaza's 2 million residents are already experiencing extreme shortages of water and electricity amid tensions that have worsened between the Palestinians and Israel since President Donald Trump opened a U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.
His administration announced in January that it was withholding $65 million of the planned $125 million funding installment for the relief agency.
Trump tweeted that he saw no reason to spend so much American money in return for what he called "no appreciation or respect" from Palestinians.
UNRWA spokesman Christopher Gunness has said the actual cut was around $300 million because the U.S. had led the agency to believe it would provide $365 million in 2018. The U.S. government released $60 million so UNRWA would not shut down, but made it clear that U.S. donations would be contingent on major reforms.
State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said last week that the agency needs to "determine a way to better manage its budgeting and its finances."
In a report to the Security Council earlier this month, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza is compounded by the potential suspension of U.N. programs, which are "a lifeline for Palestinians."
