EU suspends Palestine aid payments; Spain, Ireland swim against stream
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The EU has announced that $728 million will be "under review" following the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
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Ursula Von Der Leyen during her trip to occupied Palestine in June 14, 2022 (AFP)
According to a European Union commissioner, the EU has announced that $728 million will be "under review" following the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
Oliver Varhelyi, the EU commissioner for neighborhood and enlargement, posted on X: "All payments immediately suspended. All projects put under review. All new budget proposals, including for 2023 postponed until further notice. Comprehensive assessment of the whole portfolio."
The scale of terror and brutality against #Israel and its people is a turning point.
— Oliver Varhelyi (@OliverVarhelyi) October 9, 2023
There can be no business as usual.
As the biggest donor of the Palestinians, the European Commission is putting its full development portfolio under review, worth a total of EUR 691m
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The EU put the "full development portfolio" of Palestine under review as its "biggest donor".
However, Spain said on Monday that it "disagrees" with the EU's decision.
"(Foreign Minister) Jose Manuel Albares, called European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi to say he disagrees with this decision," Spain's Foreign Ministry said, adding that Albares called for this to be discussed at Tuesday's meeting of European foreign ministers.
Ireland, on its part, requested the European Commission to clarify the legal basis for the earlier announced suspension of Palestinian aid.
"Our understanding is that there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind by an individual Commissioner and we do not support a suspension of aid," a spokesperson for the Irish Foreign Ministry said.
EU foreign ministers will meet in an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Palestine following the initiation of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood.
The EU in February announced it would provide 296 million euros to the Palestinian Authority's 2022 budget year to assist in covering public servant wages, pensions, medical care, and infrastructure projects.
According to the EU, it would offer "up to 1.177 billion euros in financial support from 2021 to 2024."
Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported Monday that the Israeli occupation carried out intense airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, targeting civilian homes and several mosques.
The Palestinian Health Ministry has reported that 560 citizens were martyred, including 91 children and 61 women, in addition to 2,900 wounded, including over 244 children and 151 women due to the Israeli brutal aggression on Gaza.
Earlier, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported that the Israeli occupation forces waged brutal and indiscriminate airstrikes on the Gaza Strip using thermobaric weapons not to mention phosphorus bombs, which are banned under international law,
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported that 1,000 tons of explosives have been dropped on Gaza so far.
Gallant orders electricity, water cut off from Gaza's 'human animals'
The occupation's Security Minister Yoav Gallant, according to GLZ Radio, has ordered to cut off electricity, water, and food from Gaza in the aftermath of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which has already left more than 800 settlers dead in one of the deadliest operations on the occupation in decades.
Gallant revealed the occupation's true face by referring to the Palestinians in Gaza as "human animals," who he will have to deal with "accordingly".
The IOF have already bombed Gaza and are currently still bombing it with rockets in a hysterical manner.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that recent estimates indicate that the number of Israeli deaths has reached 1,000, and the number of prisoners captured by the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza has exceeded 150.
