EU freezes aid payments for Palestinians after Hamas attack on Israel
The European Commission said on Monday it was putting all its development aid to Palestinians, worth 691 million euros ($729 million), under review and immediately suspending all payments following Hamas' attack on Israel, Reuters reports.
"The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point," Oliver Varhelyi, the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, said in a post on social media. "There can be no business as usual."
Announcing the decision on social media on Monday afternoon, he said that all payments would be immediately suspended, all projects put under review and all funding proposals postponed until further notice.
In total €691 million of aid will be affected by the decision, Várhelyi said.
Brussels allocated nearly €300 million of assistance to the Palestinians last year alone, much of it going into essential services such as healthcare, social assistance, salaries for civil servants and development projects.
The EU, which designates Hamas a terrorist organisation, does not give any funding to the group. Instead the aid goes to the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, as well as non-governmental organisations and other development partners.
