European Union aid will bypass the Hamas-led Palestinian government until it recognizes Israel, renounces violence and abides by interim peace deals, the EU's aid commissioner said Thursday.

"As long as these criteria are not fulfilled, there will not be a change in the system, the manner, the process of aid support from the European Union," commissioner Louis Michel was quoted by Ha'aretz as saying after a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Tel Aviv.

Regarding the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, Michel said it had deteriorated "a lot" since the sanctions were put in place.

Earlier Thursday, a top UN refugee official urged the EU to do more to alleviate the crisis in the Palestinian territories caused by international sanctions and a collapsing economy.

Karen AbuZayd, commissioner general for UN Relief and Works Agency, said her agency urgently needed 246 million U.S.dollars in emergency funding to continue providing education, health care, social services and aid to 4.4 million Palestinian refugees living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

According to Israeli media, AbuZayd cited the recent Arab League peace initiative and formation of a Palestinian Authority national unity government including the Hamas and Fatah as positive signs which required some "reward" from the international community.

Since Hamas won the Palestinian election in 2006, Israeli officials have been pressing the EU to keep the sanctions in place to keep pressure on Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to meet the three conditions, set out by the "Quartet" of Middle East peacemakers - the United Nations, EU, Russia and the United States.

Source: Xinhua