A meeting was held at the White House on Tuesday, where 19 nations attended to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Middle East Monitor (MEM) reported. However, the Palestinian Authority (PA) boycotted the meeting on account of Donald Trump’s latest policies on Jerusalem.

Representatives from Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and a number of European countries attended the meeting.

Even though the format did not allow for direct discussions between Arab states and Israel, US officials said the meeting was integral to future negotiations, especially as the US administration is in its final stages of announcing a Middle East peace plan.

During the meeting, Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser, gave a presentation to the attending countries on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, but the US peace plan was not addressed.

According to US officials, achieving a peace agreement will require fixing Gaza and projects implemented don’t need assistance from the PA.

Based on UN statistics, unemployment in Gaza has reached 44% in 2017, making the region one of the world’s most unstable economies.

Even though the PA denied there was a humanitarian crisis in Gaza in January of this year, about 2 million residents in the strip suffer electricity shortages since the PA reduced payments for electricity supplies to the Gaza Strip in June 2017.