Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez announced on Monday 8 September that his country has decided to adopt a series of immediate measures to pressure Israel and stop what he described as “genocide in Gaza,” stressing that previous efforts have failed to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Spain: taking action against Israel
In a televised speech from the government headquarters in Madrid, Sanchez explained that the government had approved nine new measures, including closing Spain’s ports to Israeli ships carrying military equipment and closing airspace to aircraft transporting weapons or ammunition to Israel.
He also announced a ban on tankers supplying fuel to the Israeli army from docking in Spanish ports, as well as the preparation of a bill imposing an effective ban on arms exports to Tel Aviv.
Sánchez said that Israel’s actions in the Gaza Strip do not fall within the scope of self-defense, but rather aim to “exterminate a defenseless people,” noting that the Israeli army is bombing hospitals and deliberately killing civilians through starvation.
On the humanitarian front, Spain’s prime minister confirmed that his country would increase its support for the people of Gaza by allocating additional aid and increasing its contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) by €10 million.
He stressed that these steps are part of clear efforts to stop the genocide in Gaza and prosecute its perpetrators, in addition to strengthening support for the Palestinian people, who have been facing a continuous war since October 2023.
Since that date, Israel has been waging a widespread war on the Gaza Strip with US support, including bombing, killing, starvation, and forced displacement, ignoring international appeals and orders from the International Court of Justice.
According to the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health in Gaza, this war has resulted in the martyrdom of more than 64,000 Palestinians and the injury of 162,000 others, while 393 people, including 140 children, have died of starvation.
Featured image via the Canary
