RAMALLAH - The consensus government of the Palestinian Authority (PA) said on Tuesday that the United States has suspended all forms of aid to the Palestinian civilians.
The government said in a press statement that Washington has cut off this year 500 million US dollars in financial aid.
“Among the aid, 235 million dollars were assigned for economic and humanitarian projects in the West Bank, hospitals in Jerusalem and Palestinian institutions, while the rest were for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA),” said the statement.
The PA government slammed the US move, saying that “these measures are part of the brutal war that Washington is waging against the Palestinian people and their national cause.”
The statement also condemned previous US move against the Palestinians, including the closing of the office of Palestine Liberation Organization in Washington, recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, drying up the sources of financing UNRWA and attempting to legalize Israeli settlement on Palestinian territories. However, all decisions and measures of the United States and Israel will never stop the Palestinians from establishing an independent state on 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, the statement added.
Israeli fire kills 2 Gazans in new border clashes
Israeli security forces shot dead two Palestinians in clashes along the Gaza border on Tuesday evening, the health ministry in the Palestinian enclave said.
The two men, who were not immediately identified, were killed during fresh protests near the Erez checkpoint between Gaza and Israel, the scene of regular confrontation between stone throwing youths and Israeli soldiers in recent months.
Hundreds of Palestinians approached the border crossing shortly before sunset Tuesday, when the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur was set to begin.
The protests are part of months of demonstrations against Israel’s decade-long blockade of the enclave.
Since they began on March 30, at least 183 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in Gaza.
One Israeli soldier was shot dead by a Palestinian sniper.
The Erez checkpoint was closed for a week this month after a similar protest damaged the crossing.
Separately, two Palestinians were killed in an Israeli airstrike late Monday night after planting a suspicious device on the border, the Israeli army said.
Israel says its strict measures against Gaza are necessary to isolate the strip’s Islamist rulers Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008.