This action probably plays into the hands of the Israeli RightWingNuts who want Gaza abandoned ….
Chaos in Israeli Knesset building as Oct. 7 bereaved families initially barred from session...
The Trump administration’s cuts to USAID have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in contractual payments to aid groups, leaving them paying out of pocket to preserve a fragile ceasefire, according to officials from the U.S. humanitarian agency.
The cutbacks threaten to halt the small gains aid workers have made combatting Gaza’s humanitarian crisis during the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. They also could endanger the tenuous truce, which the Trump administration helped cement.
USAID was supposed to fund much of the aid to Gaza as the ceasefire progressed, and the Trump administration approved over $383 million on Jan. 31 to that end, according to three USAID officials.
But since then, there have been no confirmed payments to any partners in the Middle East, they said. The officials, who have survived multiple rounds of furloughs, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Two senior officials at aid organizations confirmed they have not received any of the promised funds, after spending millions of dollars on supplies and services. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of the issue and of their work in Gaza, said they could not afford to continue aid operations indefinitely.
Some organizations have already reported laying off workers and scaling down operations, according to internal USAID information shared with The Associated Press.
That could imperil the ceasefire, under which Hamas is supposed to release hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners and ramping up the entry of humanitarian assistance.
“The U.S. established very specific, concrete commitments for aid delivery under the ceasefire, and there is no way … to fulfill those as long as the funding freeze is in place,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and a former USAID official….
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The freeze has forced the organization to lay off some 700 staff members and offer only basic services at the hospitals, with a skeletal crew, said one USAID official.
A former IMC staffer, who quit citing lack of stability, said the program providing life-saving treatment for malnutrition was significantly scaled down for lack of funds. The former staffer, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the organization’s details, said the current nutrition services were at a minimum level.
Another former IMC staffer, who also left recently and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss information not meant to be shared with media, said the USAID cuts have reduced the amount of medical supplies brought into Gaza and led the majority of IMC’s partners to reduce their programming….
ISW….Iran Update, March 7, 2025
- Insurgency in Syria: Insurgent cells continued to attack Syrian interim government personnel across Latakia and Tartous provinces as Syrian forces deployed to re-impose security over the coastal region. Government forces have secured most populated areas, but this does not mean that government forces have defeated the insurgency in these areas. It does not appear that any one actor or group controls these Assadist insurgent cells.
- Sectarianism in Syria: Emerging reports of massacres in coastal Alawite communities perpetrated by interim government forces increase the likelihood that insurgent cells will expand in size, geographic distribution, and Alawite support.
- Iranian Nuclear Negotiations: US President Donald Trump sent a letter to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on March 5 that proposed negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. Iranian political and religious officials rejected negotiations with the United States in the immediate hours following the announcement of Trump’s letter. It is unclear how the Supreme Leader will respond in the days and weeks ahead.
- Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program: Senior Iranian military advisors, IRGC officials, and parliamentarians are increasingly lobbying the Supreme Leader to pursue a nuclear weapon. Russian Permanent Representative to the UN in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov stated that Iranian production of 60 percent enriched uranium has “no weapons risk.” Ulyanov’s statement further demonstrates that Russia would not help secure US interests as a mediator between the United States and Iran in nuclear negotiations.
- Houthis and the Red Sea: Houthi Supreme Leader Abdulmalik al Houthi threatened on March 7 to resume attacks on maritime shipping in the Red Sea on March 7 if Israel does not restart aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip by March 11.