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EU members are locked in debates about whether to freeze aid to the Palestinians
(JTA) — A number of European countries — in addition to the European Union’s governing body — are considering suspending their financial assistance to the Palestinians in the wake of Hamas’ attacks that have left over 1,200 Israelis dead.
The EU and many of its member states provide over $700 million annually to the Palestinian Authority and Gaza. Many consider Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced Monday that his country was suspending all of its aid of close to $20 million. He did not distinguish between aid to Gaza and to the Palestinian Authority, which is based in Ramallah, Reuters reported.
Denmark and Sweden both announced on Tuesday that they would suspend developmental aid but continue to send humanitarian assistance.
Others are publicly wrestling with the issue in public view — including the European Union, which has see-sawed in statements from different officials.
European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi said Monday that the EU would postpone all new payments, including for the current year “until further notice.” He said there could be no “business as usual” given the atrocities.
Then Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign affairs commissioner, said after an emergency meeting of EU and Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers on Tuesday in Oman that the body would not be freezing Palestinian aid. He said an “overwhelming majority” of European foreign ministers supported continuing aid and that “some decisions” by the Israeli military in recent days — including the decision to cut off power and water in the Gaza strip — are “contrary to international law.”
But on Wednesday, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission — one of the EU’s executive branches — signaled that the EU would indeed review its funding stance.
“Our humanitarian support to the Palestinian people is not in question. Yet it is important that we carefully review our financial assistance for Palestine. EU funding has never and will never go to Hamas or any terrorist entity. So we will now again review the entire portfolio in light of an evolving situation on the ground,” she wrote in a statement.
Ahead of the ministers’ meeting in Oman, Spain was among the member nations arguing that suspension of aid would be “counterproductive.” Acting Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told Spanish media it was unfair to punish the Palestinian people.
According to Reuters, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte agreed with that stance and said aid to Palestinians should continue, since they also were the victims of Hamas. France, too, has rejected the total suspension of aid.
Germany announced Monday that it was reviewing its funding portfolio and will investigate Hamas for suspected murder, manslaughter and hostage-taking, the tabloid BILD first reported. Germany’s foreign ministry confirmed that German citizens were among those kidnapped by the terrorists.
Svenja Schulze, head of Germany’s economic and development ministry, told German media that all Palestinian projects would be reexamined thoroughly after the “shock” of Hamas’ violent attacks against civilians. Around $132 million had been earmarked for bilateral development in 2023-24.
In Germany, popular sentiment is increasingly critical of Israel’s settlement policies, though a survey of 2,512 adults last April marking Israel’s 75th anniversary showed overwhelming support for efforts to normalize relations between Israel and its neighbors. More than two thirds supported the notion of closer cooperation between Germany and Israel. About 60% agreed that Germany has a “special” relationship with Israel due to the Holocaust.
Felix Klein, the country’s commissioner against antisemitism, told the BILD newspaper that “all German and international aid funds for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank should be reconsidered.”
Josef Schuster, head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, in a statement argued that “The Palestinian terror that we see was also financed with German taxes.” He called for “an immediate end to all financial support.”
On Wednesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Germans to “guarantee the safety of our Jewish fellow citizens” by showing solidarity with them.
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The post EU members are locked in debates about whether to freeze aid to the Palestinians appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.