WASHINGTON (AP) —The Trump administration is cutting nearly $300 million in planned funding for the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees, ending decades of support.
The State Department announced in a written statement Friday that the United States “will no longer commit further funding to this irredeemably flawed operation.”
The U.S. supplies nearly 30 percent of the total budget of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which provides health care, education and social services to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
The U.S. donated $355 million to the agency in 2016 and was set to make a similar contribution this year. In January the Trump administration released $60 million in funds but withheld a further $65 million it had been due to provide.
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