Austria suspends $20 million financial assistance to Palestinian authorities

GENEVA (AA) – Austria has halted all financial assistance to Palestinian authorities totaling €19 million (about $20 million), Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced amid Israel’s siege on Gaza in response to resistance group Hamas’ Operation Al Aqsa Flood.

“We will put all Austrian development cooperation payments on hold for the time being,” Schallenberg told O1 radio.

On Sunday, German Economic Cooperation and Development Minister Svenja Schulze told the media that Germany will “put its entire commitment to the Palestinian territories to the test.”

Vienna expects the situation in Israel to get worse before improving, Schellenberg told the radio, adding “the situation continues to be insanely tense and volatile.”

According to the top diplomat, about 8,300 Austrians are in Israel. The ministry’s crisis team is monitoring developments in the country and assisting people in leaving Israel.

The ministry is currently holding talks with all Austrians in Israel, Schallenberg said.

“There are about 100 citizens who want to leave Israel,” he said. A crisis team from Vienna is on its way to Israel to assist Austrians at the airport in Tel Aviv in leaving the country, he added.

The Foreign Ministry in Vienna has asked all Austrians in Israel to register with the ministry’s travel registry in order to stay up to date on current developments.

As the siege draws on in Gaza with food, water, electricity cut off in what is often described as the world’s “largest open-air prison”, European and Western governments are pulling out all forms of aid and assistance, and expressing solidarity with the Israeli occupation forces.