Secretary of State Marco Rubio's decision to freeze foreign aid over the weekend included pulling millions of dollars-worth of US funding for condoms in Gaza, Fox News Digital reported.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the funding pause during her first briefing Tuesday. "That is a preposterous waste of taxpayer money. So that's what this pause is focused on, being good stewards of tax dollars," Leavitt said, according to Fox News Digital.
Over the past decade, Hamas has used condoms to create IED-carrying balloons that winds would fly into southern Israel, raising the alarm on schoolyards, farmlands, and highways. These improvised explosive devices burned thousands of hectares of land and caused extensive damage.
The State Department's review comes in response to President Donald Trump's executive order, "Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid," issued last week directing a 90-day pause on most US foreign assistance disbursed through the State Department.
A White House official told Fox News Digital that a separate memo from the Office of Management and Budget will temporarily pause grants, loans, and federal assistance programs pending review. "If the activity is not in conflict with the President's priorities, it will continue with no issues," the official said.
The State Department confirmed Sunday that Rubio had specifically exempted only emergency food programs and military aid to Israel and Egypt from the freeze on foreign assistance.
Just two days after the October 7 attacks, which involved Hamas terrorists brutally raping some of the approximately 1,200 people killed in southern Israel and hundreds of others brought back into Gaza as hostages, the International Planned Parenthood Federation released a statement regarding the resulting war.
