Saudi Arabia announced donating a $50 million to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), despite Washington’s decision to halt all aid to the agency.

In a Riyadh press conference, which was also attended by UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl, the advisor at the Royal Court and General Supervisor of King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre, Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Rabiah stated that Saudi Arabia is providing the amount to the agency in order to help it overcome its funding crisis.

The agency is suffering from a severe financial crisis due to United States suspending its funding, after a US decision by President Trump to reduce contribution to about $65 million, compared with $365 million in 2017, following a Palestinian refusal to meet US Vice President, Mike Pence, during his visit to the region back then, in an indication of rejecting any American meditation in the Peace Process due to Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

UNRWA

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949. It currently offers education to more than 500,000 refugee students in more than 700 schools. The Agency also offers healthcare as well as food and cash assistance programs throughout the region, serving a total of 5.3 million Palestinian refugees.