The Israeli flag has been hoisted above the chancellor’s office and the Foreign Ministry after the shock assault launched by Hamas from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

“The extent of the terror is so horrific that we cannot go back to business as usual. We will therefore put all payments from Austrian development cooperation on ice for the time being,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg.

 

Austria said on Monday it was suspending its aid to Palestinians in response to Islamist group Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel, while Germany appeared to do the same, saying no aid payments were currently being made, Reuters reported. 

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg announced that his country was suspending aid totalling around 19 million euros ($20 million) for a handful of projects.

 Austria’s ruling Conservatives have adopted one of the most pro-Israel stances in the European Union in recent years. The Israeli flag has been hoisted above the chancellor’s office and the Foreign Ministry after the shock Hamas assault launched from the Gaza Strip on Saturday.

“The extent of the terror is so horrific that we cannot go back to business as usual. We will therefore put all payments from Austrian development cooperation on ice for the time being,” Schallenberg told ORF radio in comments confirmed by a spokeswoman, adding the estimate of funds and projects affected.

Hamas terrorists killed 700 Israelis and injured more than 2000, abducting more than hundred in the deadliest such incursion since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago.

On Sunday, neighbouring Germany debated whether it should stop aid to Palestinians following the Hamas attack, with Development Minister Svenja Schulze of the ruling Social Democrats saying the government had always been careful to check that the money was only used for peaceful ends.