UN agency for Palestinians seeks funds after US cuts

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – The UN agency for Palestinian refugees on Monday launched an "unprecedented" appeal seeking hundreds of millions of dollars in response to funding cuts by the Trump administration.

Last week the State Department notified the UN Relief and Works Agency that the US is withholding $65 million of a planned $125 million funding installment. It also made clear that additional US donations will be contingent on major changes by UNRWA, which has been heavily criticized by Israel.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians either fled or were forced from their homes during the war that led to Israel's establishment in 1948. Today, there are an estimated 5 million refugees and their descendants, mostly scattered across the region. UNWRA provides them with education, health and welfare services.

UNRWA's commissioner-general, Pierre Krahenbuhl, on Monday called the decision "abrupt and harmful."