Officials say that the United States Agency for International Development threatens to supply the main aid to Gaza

Trump administration Efforts to reduce its size The American Agency for International Development has been exposed to food, tents financing and medical treatment for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, according to American officials and workers to the humanitarian groups funded by the agency.

The officials said that the threats facing the supply chain may risk destabilizing the fragile ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, which depend on the weekly entry of 4,200 cars and commercial trucks to the region.

With almost all United States Development Agency employees It was placed on an administrative vacation by Friday nightThere will be only a few officials who have been left to sign hundreds of millions of dollars from the distinguished payments of the agency’s partners on the ground in Gaza, which raises alert about how to finance these groups.

Of more than 200 officials of the agency’s team in the East, only 21 will remain in the Post to manage its entire regional portfolio, according to an internal email message reviewed by the New York Times. The team that organizes an emergency aid supply in dozens of crisis areas around the world every year, which was only one Gaza, reached only 70 employees from more than 1,000 employees.

This is expected to slow down or prevent the provision of food packages to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, as well as tents, mattresses, blankets, hygiene tools and medical treatment, according to three officials and auxiliary factor. The four people spoke on the condition that their identity is not disclosed because they were not allowed to speak to the media.

Although the Relief Agency does not work inside Gaza, it has provided nearly one billion dollars of aid to international relief groups on the ground since the war began in October 2023 – about a third of a total response to aid, According to the United Nations. Three officials said that hundreds of millions of dollars have not yet been disbursed, and they may not now be transferred to United Nations agencies and other major aid organizations.

“They are making a fragile ceasefire already more fragile.” “Life rescue assistance will be disabled in Gaza.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which supervises the Relief Agency, refused to comment. The director of the agency in Jerusalem referred the correspondents to the Ministry of Press, the United States Agency for International Development, which did not respond to requests for comment. It was not clear if he was still working.

The World Food Program, the International Organization for Migration, and the International Medical Legion, all rejected the distribution of aid or the operation of projects in Gaza funded by the United States Agency for International Development, the comment.

Foreign Minister Marco Rubio He said in a television interview This week, the moves were “not related to getting rid of external aid”, but an attempt to prevent “arrangement” by unconventional workers.

The Trump administration says that the agency wastes taxpayer money on costly and unaccounted external programs that do not do much for the American people.

Mr. Rubio He said that The agency staff “take taxpayers and spend it as a global charitable specialist regardless of whether it is in national benefit.”

Officials interviewed in this article said that aid to Gaza was a clear example of how to help the agency’s work increasing President Trump’s declared goals in foreign policy. He has repeatedly called for an extension of the ceasefire, which is partially dependent on the smooth flow of aid.

The default collapse of the US International Development Agency is expected to remove a major form of overseeing the delivery of aid. Three officials said that the agency is scheduled to lay off officials who are monitoring the distribution of supplies within the region, which makes it difficult for the United States to evaluate those who control aid and receive aid inside Hamas -run areas.

Officials are also likely to coordinate the Israeli army, the Egyptian government, the United Nations and private relief groups, helping various parties to explore problems in the supply chain and prevent soldiers from shooting wrongly on aid convoys. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue, stressed the importance of the role of the relief agency and said that it is unclear, that is, the institution you will enter to fill.

Some aid and development programs in Gaza and the West Bank have already stopped or restricted after freezing in January in most of the US Agency for International Development and the launch or suspension of thousands of its workers. By the beginning of this week, more than half of about 50 officials working to respond to Gaza in Jerusalem and Washington have already been placed on leave or their contracts were terminated.

They included the representative of the American International Development Agency for an Israeli military control room in Tel Aviv, which helps to coordinate between military and relief groups in Gaza, according to three US officials.

The freezing has already stopped tens of millions of dollars allocated to GAZA, including water infrastructure, mobile hospital units and psychological support programs, according to an American official.

Among the groups affected by the International Medical Corps, the Los Angeles -based medical assistant group, funded by the United States Agency for International Development, which runs two large field hospitals in Gaza. As a result, the group said in statement It may not be able to keep the emergency room that treats up to 200 patients per day, a section for external patients that serves up to 2000 people per day and the birth unit that offers approximately 20 children per day.

Anira, a Washington -based assistant group, said in statement The freezing of a grant from the United States Agency for International Development, with a value of $ 50 million, has forced it to suspend work on a program to restore integrated health services in Gaza.

Tens of millions of dollars have also been frozen for the West Bank and East West Banking projects, which puts the main funds at risk to many hospitals that President Biden Preserve During visiting the area in 2022.

Ronin Bergman It contributed to the reports from Tel Aviv.