A report prepared for the U.S. Congress in December 2016 by the U.S. Congressional Research Service said annual U.S. economic support to the West Bank and Gaza Strip has averaged around $400 million since fiscal 2008.
Much of the money has gone toward U.S. Agency for International Development-administered project assistance and the rest toward budget support for the Palestinian Authority (PA), which administers limited self-rule in the Palestinian territories under interim peace agreements.
Israeli Culture Minister Miri Regev, a member of Netanyahu's Likud party, welcomed Trump's aid comments, saying on Army Radio: "I am very satisfied ... (Trump) is saying the time has come to stop saying flattering words (to the Palestinians)."
But Tzipi Livni, an Israeli opposition politician and a former peace negotiator, said "a responsible and serious (Israeli) government" should quietly tell Trump that it would be in Israel's interest to prevent a "humanitarian crisis in Gaza" and to continue to fund Palestinian security forces cooperating with Israel.
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump's U.N. ambassador disclosed plans to stop funding a United Nations agency that provides humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees.
"The president has basically said he doesn't want to give any additional funding, or stop funding, until the Palestinians agree to come back to the negotiation table," Ambassador Nikki Haley told reporters when asked about future U.S. funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)for Palestinian refugees.
In an emailed statement, UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said "UNRWA has not been informed by the United States administration of any changes in U.S. funding to the Agency".
The United States is the largest donor to the agency, with a pledge of nearly $370 million as of 2016, according to UNRWA's website.
According to UNRWA's website, there are 5.9 million UNRWA refugees and other registered persons eligible for its services, which include education and health care, in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.
