US gives Palestine $15m for covid response

Palestinians wear face masks as a measure against the novel type of coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Ramallah, West Bank on 30 January 2021 [Issam Rimawi/Anadolu Agency]

The Biden administration is giving the Palestinians $15 million to aid in their COVID-19 response in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip, Reuters reported the US State Department saying in a statement yesterday.

The funds from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) would help support efforts by the Catholic Relief Services in healthcare facilities as well as address food insecurity, the statement said.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh welcomed the US financial support to the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement published by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa, Shtayyeh described it as “an important step in the right direction to reshape the relationship with the U.S. administration, which had stopped during Trump’s rule of the White House.”

READ: Israel to bail out its airlines with $210m COVID-19 aid plan

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