After the recent developments in Israel and the rising tensions, the European Commission announced Monday that it will suspend development aid to Palestine.

EU Commissioner for Neighborhood Oliver Varhelyi said on X that the EU executive body, "the biggest donor of the Palestinians," puts on hold its "full development portfolio" of 691 million euros ($729 million).

"The scale of terror and brutality against Israel and its people is a turning point," Varhelyi asserted.

"There can be no business as usual," he added.

Meanwhile, Spain disagreed with the EU move to suspend Palestinian aid payments.

"(Foreign Minister) Jose Manuel Albares, called European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi to say he disagrees with this decision," Spain's foreign ministry said, adding that Albares called for this to be discussed at Tuesday's meeting of European foreign ministers.

The Gaza-based resistance group Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against Israel early Saturday, firing a barrage of rockets. It said the surprise attack was in response to the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem and increased settler violence.

In retaliation, the Israeli army launched Operation Swords of Iron against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

At least 800 Israelis have been killed and over 2,300 others wounded in the fighting, according to the Israeli Health Ministry.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that over 560 Palestinians died and over 2,900 were wounded.

Gaza has been under a brutal Israeli blockade since 2007, which has badly affected livelihood in the seaside enclave. The U.N. said Israeli occupation is making Palestinian territories an open-air prison.

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied territories, told reporters in Geneva in July that Israel had carried out widespread, systematic and arbitrary detention of Palestinians since the 1967 Middle East war.

"There is no other way to define the regime that Israel has imposed on the Palestinians – which is apartheid by default – other than an open-air prison," Albanese said at a briefing for journalists.

"By deeming all Palestinians as a potential security threat, Israel is blurring the line between its own security and the security of its annexation plan ... Palestinians are presumed guilty without evidence, arrested without warrants, detained without charge or trial very often, and brutalized in Israeli custody."