US freezes all foreign aid except for Israel and Egypt

The State Department has frozen new funding for almost all US foreign assistance, making exceptions to allow humanitarian food programmes and military aid to Israel and Egypt to continue.

The sweeping order threatened a quick halt to countless projects globally aiding health, education, development, job training and other efforts by the United States, the largest provide of foreign aid. It appears to begin enforcement of a pledge to eliminate aid programs that President Donald Trump judges not to be in US interests.

The order — sent in a cable to US embassies worldwide and obtained by The Associated Press — prohibits new government spending, which appears to limit programs to running only as long as they have cash on hand.

Some leading aid organizations on Friday were interpreting the directive as an immediate stop-work order for US-funded aid work globally, a senior aid organization official said. Many would likely cease operations immediately so as not to incur more costs, the official said.

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