The European Union backtracked in disarray on Monday on an announcement that aid to Palestinians had been suspended.
The confusion began after Oliver Varhelyi said the European Commission was putting all its development aid for Palestinians, worth €691 million (£597 million), under review and all payments were “immediately suspended”.
Mr Varhelyi was nominated for his post by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a staunch ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and Ireland publicly voiced alarm over the announcement while other countries did so behind the scenes, diplomats said.
More than five hours later, the Commission clarified that while it had started an urgent review, “as there were no payments foreseen, there will be no suspension of payments”.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell then sowed further confusion when he said the EU would not suspend “due payments”.
The Commission declined to explain the discrepancy. But it clarified that humanitarian aid – which is separate to funds for development – would continue.
It said it was carrying out the review to “ensure that no EU funding indirectly enables any terrorist organisation to carry out attacks against Israel”.
The EU’s disarray reflected longstanding divisions within the 27-strong bloc over the Israel-Palestinian conflict,.
Europe is one of the main sources of aid to the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories where the United Nations estimates that around 2.1 million people need humanitarian assistance, among them 1 million children.