A Palestinian refugee child plays outside her house at Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip, on Aug. 8, 2017. About 2 million people reside in the Gaza Strip, where over 1.2 million refugees are registered. (Xinhua/Wissam Nassar)
WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- The United States have informed a UN body in charge of aiding Palestinian refugees that the nation will withhold 65 million U.S. dollars in a bid to push for the agency' s "reform", a U.S. State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday.
The United States had delivered a letter earlier on Tuesday to the UN Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees in the Near East to inform it the decision, U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told a press briefing.
The money being frozen would be held for future consideration, rather than being canceled, she said.
"One of the things that the United States would like to do is see some revisions made in how UNRWA operates," she said. "One of the things this administration would like to do, just as we talk about UN reform ... it's not a lost cause at all. We would like to see some reforms being made."
Despite the suspension, the United State wills still commit a voluntary contribution of 60 million U.S. dollars in 2018 to ensure that the agency will not face a shutdown.
The decision was claimed to not have been aimed at punishing the Palestinians for bringing President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision to the UN Security Council for vote last year.
Washington "would like other countries - in fact, other countries that criticize the United States for what they believe to be our position vis-a-vis the Palestinians, other countries that have criticized us - to step forward and actually help with UNRWA, to do more," she said.
Trump was reportedly planning to withhold tens of millions of dollars for UNRWA, which was created in 1949 as a relief and human development agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
Also on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern over the cut, saying the agency, a UN institution, is providing vital services to the Palestinian refugees, both in the occupied territories and in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
