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US ‘Lying’ About Promised $5mn Aid Package to Hospitals Facing COVID-19: Palestinian Diplomat

US ‘Lying’ About Promised $5mn Aid Package to Hospitals Facing COVID-19: Palestinian Diplomat
folder_openPalestine access_time3 years ago
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By Staff, Agencies

The Palestinian envoy to France said Washington lied about sending millions in aid to beleaguered hospitals in Gaza and the West Bank, insisting the funds were earmarked to favor non-governmental organizations [NGOs] unlikely to spend a dime on healthcare.

In a tweet last week, Washington’s ambassador to the Zionist entity, David Friedman, claimed the US would provide $5 million to “Palestinian hospitals and households to meet immediate, life-saving needs in combating COVID-19,” while congratulating the US for being the “world’s top humanitarian donor.”

But Salman al-Harfi, the Palestinian ambassador to France, said that the reality on the ground is strikingly different, arguing that hospitals battling the coronavirus in the occupied territories had yet to see any of the alleged aid funds.

“The United States did not give anything to the Palestinian people, we did not get a cent,” he stressed.

“He's lying, we don’t know what they’re going to spend money on, but certainly not on Palestinian healthcare and hospitals,” Harfi told Sputnik, adding that if US officials wanted to contribute to relief efforts they “can directly contact a representative of the Palestinian people and say: We want to resume assistance, we were wrong.”

The Palestinian envoy went on to say that the bulk of the pledged sum – $3.5 million – had instead been allocated to NGOs friendly with Washington, though he did not specify any agency by name or elaborate further on how the funds would be used.

Al-Harfi also pointed to a recent decision by US President Donald Trump to freeze funding for the World Health Organization [WHO], one of the few institutions helping to secure coronavirus test kits for the Gaza Strip, which has been under ‘Israeli’ blockade for over 10 years.

“The United States also did not renew its assistance to the World Health Organization, they cannot pretend that, as Friedman said, they gave something to the Palestinians,” al-Harfi said.

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