The EU chief orders the European Commission âto do its utmostâ to use the four-day truce to boost its aid deliveries.
The European Commission says it will step up aid deliveries to Gaza during the agreed four-day pause in Israelâs war.
Welcoming the agreement, Ursula von der Leyen, chief of the EUâs executive body, said the bloc will use the window to get more humanitarian into the Palestinian enclave.
âThe European Commission will do its utmost to use this pause for a humanitarian surge to Gaza,â she said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that âI wholeheartedly welcome the agreementâ.
Tamer Qarmout, assistant professor in public policy at the Doha Institute, told Al Jazeera that the most important thing that needs to be addressed during the pause is the catastrophic humanitarian condition in Gaza.
âItâs about food and shelter. Winter is here in Gaza, people are sleeping outside, and thereâs nothing to cover them. So itâs a disaster. Aid needs to be increased and the international community need to push Israel on this,â Qarmout said.
âNo evidenceâ
Von der Leyenâs comments came a day after the commission announced a review of its development aid to Palestinians â ordered after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas â found no evidence of funds going to the armed group that rules Gaza.
âThe review found no indications of EU money having directly or indirectly benefitted the terrorist organisation Hamas,â Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Tuesday.
The EU is the biggest provider of development aid to Palestinians. It has earmarked about 1.2 billion euros ($1.3bn) for its programmes for the period between 2021 and 2024.
Brussels was forced, in the wake of the October 7 attacks, to deny it would cut all aid to Gaza in October, following a statement by the Hungarian-nominated commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement.
Oliver Varhelyi stated on social media that âall paymentsâ to the Palestinians had been âimmediately suspendedâ and that âall new budget proposals,â including for 2023, had been âpostponed until further noticeâ.
The commission scrambled to clarify that Varhelyiâs statement was not official and that humanitarian funds would continue to flow, while an âurgent reviewâ would be conducted regarding development assistance that was earmarked but not yet disbursed.
Development aid is used for projects designed to have a long-term impact, such as paying the salaries of officials at the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank, and the work of the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
It is separate from humanitarian aid, meant for urgent needs for essentials such as food, water and shelter.
âThe review found that the control system in place has worked. As a result payment to Palestinian beneficiaries and UNRWA will continue without any delays,â Dombrovskis told reporters.
The commission said, however, that it would not proceed with plans to provide 75.6 million euros ($82.5m) for Gaza infrastructure projects that were not âfeasible in the current contextâ.
That money will now go to other projects after Israel launched its heavy bombardment of Gaza following the October 7 attacks.
The enclaveâs Hamas-run government says at least 14,100 Palestinians have been confirmed killed during Israelâs aerial blitz and invasion. In Israel, the official death toll from Hamasâs attacks stands at about 1,200.
