U.S. weighs hitting UN Palestinian refugee agency with terrorism-related sanctions

"Trump administration officials have held advanced discussions on hitting U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA with terrorism-related sanctions, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter...

It was not immediately clear if current U.S. discussions were focused on sanctioning the entire agency - or just specific UNRWA officials or parts of its operation, and U.S. officials do not appear to have settled on the precise type of sanctions they would deploy against UNRWA.

Among the possibilities that State Department officials have discussed include declaring UNRWA a ‘foreign terrorist organization,’ or FTO, the sources said, though it is not clear if that option - which would severely isolate UNRWA financially - is still a serious consideration...

The State Department and other departments have various sanctioning options at their disposal, which generally allow for asset freezes and travel bans targeted at specific individuals and entities. An FTO designation would be among the most severe tools available to Washington and such designations are generally reserved for groups who kill civilians, like branches of Islamic State and al-Qaeda...

In recent weeks, the potential sanctions have been discussed by officials in the State Department's Bureau of Counterterrorism and members of its Policy Planning Staff, a powerful internal policymaking entity, one of the sources said..."