EU Commission suspends ‘all payments immediately’ to the Palestinians following the Hamas attack

By RAF CASERT
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi says the bloc is suspending “all payments immediately” to the Palestinians because of what he called the “scale of terror and brutality” during the attacks on Israel by Hamas. The surprise announcement by Varhelyi on Monday came just hours after EU officials stressed that no EU money whatsoever was going to Hamas in the first place and that contacts had been frozen for 16 years. The EU considers Hamas a terror group. Varhelyi said that as the biggest donor to the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, which he said amounted to 691 million euros. Germany and Austria also suspended development aid.