U.S. to give Palestinians $10 million in medical aid
 

Medical assistance worth will be provided $10 million to Palestinians by the Unitd States, according to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice and other members of the so-called Mideast Quartet, meeting at the United Nations in New York, also endorsed a European Union proposal to temporarily deliver aid directly to the Palestinian people, bypassing the Hamas-led government.

The $10 million in U.S. aid will come from money the United States took back from the Palestinians after Hamas, which the U.S. considers a terrorist organization, won Palestinian elections this year.

A senior State Department official said the money includes $4 million in medicine and medical equipment for clinics run by nongovernmental organizations, which could start to be delivered as early as Wednesday. The remaining $6 million will be delivered through UNICEF, the U.N. children's fund.

Rice announced the program Tuesday after meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the other representatives of the Mideast Quartet -- Russia and the European Union.

Details of what types of aid will be provided under the European Union's proposed "temporary mechanism" and how it will be delivered remain to be decided.