Sweden and Denmark suspend Palestinian development aid
Sweden and Denmark are suspending Palestinian development aid but maintaining humanitarian assistance, following the Hamas militant group's deadly attack on Israel.
The announcements came a day after the European Commission launched a review of its development aid to the Palestinians.
The government in Copenhagen said in a statement it "has decided to put Danish development assistance to Palestine on hold".
"A thorough review will be conducted to ensure that no Danish funding is misused to indirectly support terrorist organisations that attack Israel," it said.
The review will be conducted "in close dialogue with Denmark's partners in the EU and the Nordic countries," it said.
For 2023, Denmark had earmarked humanitarian and development aid totalling 235.5 million kroner ($33.5 million) for the Palestinian territories.
Around 72 million kroner of development aid has yet to be disbursed.
"It is this assistance that is now being put on hold," the statement said.
Sweden also said it was suspending development aid. The leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, told Swedish news agency TT that this means 57 million kronor ($5.24 million) won't be paid out this year.
Swedish opposition politicians criticised the decision.
"This is completely the wrong course of action. Sweden has never given any aid to Hamas," Morgan Johansson, former foreign minister and current foreign policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats, told TT.
"Swedish aid has been able to strengthen human rights, civil society, healthcare and education. When you now want to pull that, it risks having the opposite effect. It risks fuelling radicalisation and extremism," he said.
Austria and Germany have also announced that they were suspending development aid.
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The announcements came a day after the European Commission launched a review of its development aid to the Palestinians.
The government in Copenhagen said in a statement it "has decided to put Danish development assistance to Palestine on hold".
"A thorough review will be conducted to ensure that no Danish funding is misused to indirectly support terrorist organisations that attack Israel," it said.
The review will be conducted "in close dialogue with Denmark's partners in the EU and the Nordic countries," it said.
For 2023, Denmark had earmarked humanitarian and development aid totalling 235.5 million kroner ($33.5 million) for the Palestinian territories.
Around 72 million kroner of development aid has yet to be disbursed.
"It is this assistance that is now being put on hold," the statement said.
Sweden also said it was suspending development aid. The leader of the far-right Sweden Democrats, Jimmie Åkesson, told Swedish news agency TT that this means 57 million kronor ($5.24 million) won't be paid out this year.
Swedish opposition politicians criticised the decision.
"This is completely the wrong course of action. Sweden has never given any aid to Hamas," Morgan Johansson, former foreign minister and current foreign policy spokesperson for the Social Democrats, told TT.
"Swedish aid has been able to strengthen human rights, civil society, healthcare and education. When you now want to pull that, it risks having the opposite effect. It risks fuelling radicalisation and extremism," he said.
Austria and Germany have also announced that they were suspending development aid.
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