A deal on the extensive appropriations bill was reached on Tuesday between Congress and the White House and is said to include a ban on all direct funding for the primary humanitarian agency operating in Gaza until the year 2025, sources have confirmed to CBS News.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East has been accused of employing individuals who have been linked to the Hamas attacks on Israel last October. Estimates are that 25,000 to 30,000 of UNRWA's employees are Palestinian, and that 10% to 15% of those individuals are either directly supportive of Hamas or at a minimum sympathetic to them.
Prior to the proposed pause, the State Department has typically given between $300 to $400 million a year to UNRWA with $121 million already having been distributed in 2024.
Not all Democrats are in line with the proposed spending freeze. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said on "Face the Nation" last Sunday that cutting off aid to UNRWA would harm the most vulnerable in Gaza. "If you cut off funding for UNRWA and Gaza entirely, it means more people will starve, more people won't get the medical assistance they need. And so, it would be a huge mistake to cut them off," Van Hollen told CBS News.
Van Hollen went further to put some of the blame on the Israel’s prime minister saying, "Netanyahu has wanted to get rid of UNRWA because he has seen them as a means to continue the hopes of the Palestinian people for a homeland of their own. And he has been opposed to a two-state solution. And this has been his primary objective, stopping a two-state solution."
President Joe Biden has indicated he will sign the proposed legislation if passed.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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