RAMALLAH, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Palestinian Authority (PA) condemned on Saturday the U.S. decision to suspend financial aid to Palestinian hospitals in east Jerusalem.
The U.S. decision "is a new episode in the fierce war waged against the Palestinian cause and the rights of the Palestinian people," said the PA consensus government ministry of foreign affairs in a statement.
"The American escalation is dangerous and unjustified, and it has exceeded all red lines," it said. "It is a direct aggression against the Palestinian people, including the human dimension."
The Israeli Haaretz Daily reported earlier that U.S. President Donald Trump's administration decided to cut 20 million U.S. dollars used to be paid as a financial aid to Palestinian hospitals in east Jerusalem.
The Israeli daily report said that "the resolution passed Thursday could jeopardize the ongoing work and activity of a number of these hospitals, which pose a threat to stop providing health services."
According to the newspaper, the decision was taken despite the pressure exerted by some Christian groups that support these hospitals in the community of the occupied part of the city since 1967.
Trump had earlier stated that his country would resume financial aid to the PA only if it accepts to get back to the negotiations table with Israel, according to Israel Radio.
Ties between the United States and the PA had been severed since Trump's declaration in December last year that Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Israel.
The Palestinians want the eastern part of Jerusalem to be the capital of their Palestinian state, while Israel considered all Jerusalem as its eternal capital, although the world has not recognized the city as its capital.
