In Gaza, UNRWA chief says U.S. aid cut risks more Middle East instability

Palestinians wait to receive aid at a United Nations food distribution center in Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

GAZA (Reuters) - The head of the U.N. agency that helps Palestinian refugees said on Monday that U.S. plans to cut funding to the body were abrupt and harmful and risked destabilising the Middle East.

Pierre Krنhenbühl, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), visited the Gaza Strip on the same day that U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem that the U.S. would move its embassy there by the end of 2019.