Israel-Hamas War Updates:- Hamas threatens to kill hostages

Hamas threatens to kill hostages

On Monday, the armed wing of Hamas announced that if Israel continued to assault civilian homes without warning, it would begin executing Israeli hostages.

Hamas cited Israel's growing use of assault and the unannounced killing of civilians inside their houses for the proposed response.

_{(Israeli air strike on Gaza City)}

EU freezes funding to Palestine

After EU nations claimed the bloc's executive had overstepped the mark, the European Union altered course on its announcement that aid to the Palestinians had been barred in reaction to the attack on Israel by Hamas on Monday.

However, Oliver Varhelyi, the chief representative for relations with the EU's neighbours, announced that the European Commission was reviewing all of its development aid for Palestinians, totalling 691 million euros ($729 million).

The European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Varhelyi, also stated that all payments had been "immediately suspended" in a post on the social media platform X.

Several governments expressed concern after learning of the statement because they had previously warned against cutting off aid to the detriment of Palestinian civilians and questioned the Commission's authority to make such a decision.

Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Ireland made their concern known in public while few other nations did so behind the scenes, according to diplomats.

"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 Ireland's foreign ministry said.

The Commission sent a statement, hours after Varhelyi's social media post, acknowledging that it had begun an urgent aid review but also stating that "as there were no payments foreseen, there will be no suspension of payments."

The Commission declined to offer an explanation for the disparity. But it made it clear that humanitarian aid, which is separate from funds for development, will still be provided.

The review, according to the statement, was conducted to "ensure that no indirect EU funding enables any terrorist organization to carry out attacks against Israel."

In the bloodiest such assault since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago, Hamas militants killed about 900 Israelis and kidnapped many, forcing Israel to respond with its heaviest-ever shelling of Gaza, which has killed more than 680 people.

(Photos: Mohammed Saber/EPA)