The Trump administration has frozen new funding for HIV programs and other health services, with the exception of critical food programs.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has announced a freeze on nearly all new funding for foreign aid programs, with the exception of allies Israel and Egypt.

The State Department order issued Friday also includes exceptions for emergency food programs but not health programs that advocates say provide critical life-saving services.

In the accompanying memo, the new confirmation Secretary of State Marco Rubio Directing senior officials to “ensure that no new obligations for foreign assistance are imposed to the fullest extent permitted by law.”

Humanitarian groups immediately expressed alarm at the directive, fearing it could lead to global instability and loss of life.

“By suspending foreign development assistance, the Trump administration is threatening the lives and futures of communities in crisis and abandoning America’s longstanding bipartisan approach to foreign aid that supports people as needed, regardless of politics,” Abby Maxman, head of Oxfam America, said in a statement.

The temporary freeze is expected to last at least three months. According to the memo, Rubio is expected to make a “decision whether to continue, modify or terminate the project” within the first 85 days.

One of the health programs expected to experience a funding freeze is the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, also known as President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Assistance.

Established in 2003 during the George W Bush administration, PEPFAR enjoyed broad bipartisan support for two decades until Congress missed a 2023 deadline to renew its funding. Its funding was extended by one year to March 2025, but is about to expire within a three-month window.

Experts estimate that PEPFAR has helped save as many as 25 million lives since its inception.

Aid to Israel and Egypt, the two largest recipients of U.S. military aid, were not affected by the freeze.

Both countries face scrutiny of their human rights records and have called for U.S. aid to be used in exchange for substantive reforms.

Friday’s memo specifically mentions exemptions for “foreign military financing of Israel and Egypt and the administrative costs, including salaries, required to manage foreign military financing.”

There is no sign of a similar exemption for Ukraine, which relies heavily on U.S. arms aid to repel a full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.

In 2023, the United States spent more than $60 billion on foreign aid, more than any other country.

But this amount represents about 1% of U.S. government spending. After Friday’s memo was released, some aid projects around the world received stoppage orders.

“It’s crazy,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

He expressed his anger to Reuters. “It’s going to kill people. I mean, if it’s carried out as it’s written in that cable…a lot of people are going to die.”