Gaza residents suffer from a great scarcity of food aid (Al Jazeera)

Yesterday, Saturday, the US Congress approved a temporary budget proposal that approves the provision of new military aid to Israel and suspends funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) until March 2025.

The interim budget, expected to be signed by US President Joe Biden later today, does not allocate any funds to UNRWA for a full year, despite fears of famine in the Gaza Strip.

The interim budget, supported by both Democrats and Republicans, maintains increased military aid to Israel, preventing a government shutdown.

The interim budget allocates $3.8 billion in military aid to Israel from the US Department of Defense budget of $886 billion.

Another package worth $95 billion is pending, allocating $60 billion to Ukraine and $14 billion to Israel.

Yesterday, Saturday, the Senate approved a $1.2 trillion financing package after a last-minute consensus, thus preventing a possible partial government shutdown.

The package, which fully funds the government until next September, ends a months-long battle over spending.

The Senate approved the legislation by a vote of 74 to 24, and it will be sent to the president for his signature into law.

The approval of aid to Israel comes despite the controversy over the method of its use in its war on Gaza, as Israel directly targets civilians in the Gaza Strip and commits many massacres daily, even after it faced the charge of genocide before the International Court of Justice.

The population of the Gaza Strip is also suffering from increasing risks of famine due to the Israeli occupation preventing the entry of food and medicine, especially to the north, which has led to many deaths among civilians, including children, the sick and the injured.

UNRWA is considered a major lifeline for the residents of the Gaza Strip, as it has been providing them with aid, but Israeli accusations against a number of the international agency’s employees of involvement in the attacks of last October 7 prompted the United States and a number of Western countries to cut off funding for the agency, although the Israeli allegations have not been proven.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies