In a statement yesterday, the Commission confirmed that it has ordered an urgent review of EU assistance for Palestine to “ensure that no EU funding indirectly enables any terrorist organisation to carry out attacks against Israel”.

However, it added that there “will be no suspension of payments” — noting that there were in fact “no payments foreseen” — and that the review would not include humanitarian assistance.

It contradicted an earlier statement by Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi, the European commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, who said “all payments” would be “immediately suspended” in response to the “scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people”.

A spokesperson for Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs had subsequently told media: “Our understanding is that there is no legal basis for a unilateral decision of this kind by an individual commissioner and we do not support a suspension of aid. We are formally requesting the Commission to clarify the legal basis for this announcement.”