The European Union reversed an earlier announcement from a commissioner on Monday who said the bloc planned on suspending humanitarian aid payments to Palestinian-controlled territories after Hamas launched a full-scale terrorist attack on Israel over the weekend.
“There will be no suspension of payments” at the moment, the Commission said in a statement reported by The Associated Press.
The change comes hours after E.U. Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi claimed the opposite on social media, saying that the bloc’s 691 million euro — or $730 million — development portfolio to the Palenstinians was put under review.
“The scale of terror and brutality against #Israel and its people is a turning point,” Varhelyi wrote in an X-post. “There can be no business as usual.”
Varhelyi wrote that all payments, projects under review, and current and new budget proposals would be “postponed until further notice.”
“The foundations for peace, tolerance and co-existence must now be addressed,” he said. “Incitement to hatred, violence and glorification of terror have poisoned the minds of too many. We need action and we need it now.”
Hamas launched thousands of rockets into Israel early Saturday morning, sending people throughout the country running for bomb shelters. Simultaneously, the terrorist organization used drones to drop bombs on Israeli defenses on the border, rendering them inoperable as militants used explosives and bulldozers to smash through Israel’s border wall. More than 1,000 terrorists then flooded into the country on paragliders, boats, motorcycles, trucks, and by foot as they hunted down innocent civilians door to door to slaughter or kidnap them.
Israel’s casualty toll has risen to 900 killed and approximately 2,400 injured in the last 48 hours after Hamas attacked the Middle Eastern nation — the largest number of Jews killed in a single day since the Holocaust, according to Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Varhelyi’s announcement comes hours after the E.U., which has reportedly advocated for a two-state solution since the 1993 Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, claimed earlier on Monday that a “no contact policy” from the 27-member state supranational political and economic union has supported Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization, and has frozen its contacts with the group since 2007.
“The E.U. is not funding Hamas or their terrorist activities directly or indirectly,” the commission said, according to the Financial Times.
“The aggression by Hamas has to stop and the hostages be released,” the commission said, adding it believes Israel had the right to defend itself.
E.U. officials reportedly said any projects funded by the union were through nongovernmental organizations for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians.
The Associated Press reported the alliance has provided 700 million euros of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank since 2000 through the European Commission’s humanitarian aid department (ECHO) and the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The announcement comes after similar measures taken by Germany and Austria in response to the deadly attacks on Israel. Both countries have reportedly pledged humanitarian aid for the Palestinians rather than funding the Palestinian Authority.
Germany Development Minister Svenja Schulze said in a statement that the 250 million euros — or $265 million — for Palestinian aid provided by Germany “serves peace and not the terrorists.”
“But these attacks on Israel are a terrible watershed, so we will review our whole commitment to the Palestinian areas,” Schulze said.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg told Oe1 radio on Monday that the 19 million euros — or $20 million — in development aid payments would be “put on ice for now.”
Ryan Saavedra contributed to this report.