INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
US President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House next week as the first foreign leader to
visit in Trump&s second term, Netanyahu and the White House said Tuesday.The announcement came as the United States pressures Israel and
Hamas to continue a ceasefire that has paused a devastating 15-month war in Gaza, Associated Press reported. Talks about the ceasefire&s
more difficult second phase, which aims to end the war, begin Monday.In a letter from the White House, shared by Netanyahu&s office on
Tuesday, Trump said: &I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared
adversaries.Israel is the largest recipient of United States military aid, and Netanyahu is likely to encourage Trump not to hold up some
weapons deliveries the way the Biden administration did, though it continued other deliveries and overall military support.Netanyahu also
reportedly wants Trump to put more pressure on Iran, and renew efforts to deliver a historic normalization agreement between Israel and
Saudi Arabia, a rival of Iran and the Arab world&s most powerful country.Even before taking office this month, Trump was sending his special
Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region to apply pressure along with the Biden administration to get the current Gaza ceasefire
achieved.But Netanyahu has vowed to renew the war if Hamas doesn''t meet his demands in negotiations over the ceasefire&s second phase,
meant to discuss a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a &sustainable calm,& AP reported. Trump&s suspension of aid sets off alarm
bellsAccording to Washington-based think tank, the Brookings Institution, there is a lot of uncertainty and unpredictability about Trump&s
presidency in the coming months not just domestically but also internationally. One area of growing concerns is that related to US
foreign aid after Trump suspended all funding for 90 days, pending a review. Humanitarian organisations and U.N
agencies say they could face drastic curbs on their ability to distribute food, shelter and healthcare if the freeze becomes permanent.The
United States is by far the biggest contributor to global humanitarian aid, supplying an estimated $13.9 billion in 2024, accounting for
42% of all aid tracked by the United Nations, Reuters reported. Washington did however say it would grant waivers to the freeze in some
areas including emergency food assistance, according to a memo seen by Reuters. Bangladesh&s government said in a statement that the United
States had granted a waiver for emergency food aid to more than a million Rohingya refugees sheltering in Bangladesh.But the exemption does
not apply to other humanitarian programming
A Bangladesh-based aid worker said organisations working on shelter, for example, would not be able to buy new materials for building and
fixing homes for refugees.The cuts will also affect the supply of lifesaving drugs for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis around the globe, which
millions of people depend on, according to another memo seen by Reuters.World Food Program Country Director for Afghanistan Hsiao-Wei Lee
told Reuters she was concerned about the freeze given that the WFP was already only receiving about half the aid it needed for Afghanistan,
and that over 6 million people were surviving on &just bread and tea&.The WFP received $4.7 billion from the United States last year,
accounting for 54% of its funding, according to the U.N.The order to freeze funding has thrown USAID missions and their partners into chaos,
with many organisations unsure whether to lay off staff, start selling assets such as cars or tell employees to take unpaid leave, according
to a source at the agency. USAID has been forbidden from communicating with implementing partners except to say funds have been paused, the
person told Reuters.These are people we work with on a daily basis,& the source added
&We can''t speak with them any more.In 2023, the United States was the largest landmine action donor with a total contribution of $310
million, representing 39% of all international support, according to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Syria, Myanmar, Ukraine
and Afghanistan were among the countries where uncleared mines claim most lives.The State Department said on Sunday, that the United States
government must refocus on American national interests in its role as steward of taxpayer dollars.President Trump stated clearly that the
United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people
Reviewing and realigning foreign assistance on behalf of hardworking taxpayers is not just the right thing to do, it is a moral imperative,&
the State Department said
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