When the previous US administration pulled its aid, the impact was enormous on the Palestinian people. As a result, funding for hospitals in East Jerusalem dropped, which would then go on to affect Palestinians during the pandemic. Photo by Ahmed Abu Hameeda on Unsplash UNITED NATIONS, Apr 9 2021 (IPS) - The Trump administration’s decision to cut off assistance to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) caused considerable hardship for Palestinian refugees during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly those in Gaza where a majority of the population are refugees and poverty is rampant due to Israel’s blockade, Khaled Elgindy, a Senior Fellow at the Middle East Institute (MEI), told IPS.