BRUSSELS, March 20: The European Union warned Hamas on Monday that it stood at a crossroads after the militant group, which figures on the EU’s terror list, named a new Palestinian cabinet dominated by its members.

The EU is by far the biggest aid donor to the poverty-stricken Palestinian territories and has made future help conditional on the Palestinian cabinet agreeing to recognize Israel, forswear violence and accept previously-reached accords.

“Hamas is at a crossroads now. Hamas will have to decide which road to take, how to take the responsibility that is coming upon it now,” said Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik, whose country holds the EU presidency.

“Our message has been clear and consistent. It will be clear and consistent also in this situation,” Plassnik said as she arrived for a meeting of the 25-member bloc’s foreign ministers.

But Hamas, whose senior members have been appointed to key portfolios, has shown little sign that it will agree to any, let alone all, of those conditions, which are also supported by the United States.

Its stance has left the EU, which sends around 500 million euros (609 million dollars) a year to the territories, with a huge dilemma at a desperate time for many Palestinians.

After Hamas’s stunning election victory in January, Israel imposed sanctions on the Palestinian Authority, including withholding some 50 million euros a month in tax and customs duties.

The World Bank says the local economy could implode and unemployment double to some 40 per cent.

On Sunday, the United Nations warned that the Gaza Strip is dangerously short of food and faces a humanitarian crisis.

Last month, the EU announced a 120 million euro package to help meet the basic needs of Palestinians and pay public sector salaries, 64 million euros of which was signed over to the UN on their behalf on Monday.

The bloc has since been studying ways to channel aid to the people and the caretaker government under Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, while keeping money out of the hands of the militants.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the EU wants to continue to help the Palestinians but that its next move would be up to Hamas and the people who put it in office.

“We don’t want to punish the Palestinian people for their votes at all,” he said as he arrived for the meeting.

“On the other hand, the Palestinian people need to say to any Hamas government that democracy involves responsibilities, and above all a responsibility not to get involved in violence,” Straw said.—AFP