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U.S. and E.U. cut Palestinian aid

The United States and the European Union suspended aid to the new Hamas-led Palestinian government on Friday, pushing the Palestinian Authority closer to financial collapse. Last year the Palestinians received one-point-three billion dollars in overseas aid, out of a budget of one-point-nine billion dollars.

The U.S. State Department, making its announcement, said it would boost humanitarian aid to the Palestinians through U.N. agencies to avoid widespread distress in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but the United States would not fund an organization committed to the destruction of Israel. Both the European Union and the U.S. consider Hamas a terrorist organization.

The U.S. says more than $400 million out of an originally approved $600 million worth of aid will be cut. The move is part of an international effort to deny funds to the radical Hamas movement that has won control of the Palestinian government. Both the European Union and the U.S. consider Hamas a terrorist organization.