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Will Trump administration provide COVID-19 aid to the Palestinians?

The US administration recently announced a global $274 million coronavirus aid package, but the Trump administration is nonetheless doubling down on the fight to eliminate all Palestinian aid.
Elderly Palestinian women are reflected in a mirror during an awareness lesson on coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in a nursing house that stepped up preventive measures to protect the patients, in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, April 2, 2020. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta - RC2CWF9971N2

The United States recently touted some $40 million in emergency humanitarian assistance throughout the Middle East and North Africa to help combat the coronavirus pandemic. The West Bank and Gaza are not on the list of beneficiaries of this US largesse.

In fact, the Donald Trump administration is doubling down on its policy of eliminating Palestinian aid despite the COVID-19 pandemic. This has placed the White House at odds with the purse-string holders in Congress, particularly Democrats who worry that the Palestinian aid freeze could exacerbate the spread of COVID-19 throughout the West Bank and the densely populated Gaza Strip.

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