Alwaght- The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) blamed the US for "Weaponizing humanitarian and developmental aid," vowing that Washington's "political blackmail" will not intimidate "the Palestinian people and leadership" and they "will not succumb to coercion".
PLO's remarks came after a senior State Department official announced on Friday the US had cancelled more than $200m in aid for the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.
The official added that the decision took into account "the challenges the international community faces in providing assistance in Gaza, where Hamas control endangers the lives of Gaza's citizens and degrades an already dire humanitarian and economic situation".
"The rights of the Palestinian people are not for sale," PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi said in a statement.
"There is no glory in constantly bullying and punishing a people under occupation. The US administration has already demonstrated meanness of spirit in its collusion with the Israeli occupation and its theft of land and resources; now it is exercising economic meanness by punishing the Palestinian victims of this occupation."
The US has announced in January cutting $65m out of a $125m aid package earmarked for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
The decision to cut Palestinian funding comes amid a severe humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, where more than 170 Palestinians protesting for their right to return to the areas from which they were forcibly expelled from in 1948 have been killed by Israeli gunfire since March 30 during weeks-long demonstrations near the fence with occupied territories.
Officials in the Gaza Strip, which has been administered by Hamas since 2007, have previously blasted the US for its support to Israel, saying that Washington has long lost its regional credibility.
