Spain hosts European, Arab nations to pressure Israel

Spain has called for an arms embargo against the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza, Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said Sunday.He also suggested targeted sanctions could be imposed on individuals "who obstruct the two-state solution." "We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," Albares told reporters at the start of the ministerial meeting of the Madrid Group in the Spanish capital, which he said aimed to halt Israel's "inhumane" and "senseless" war in the Palestinian enclave. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons," he added.

What else did Spain's top diplomat say?

Albares also said Spain would propose the immediate suspension of a trade partnership between the European Union and Israel, which Brussels is currently reviewing.Spain, one of the EU's toughest critics of Israel, angered Benjamin Netanyahu last year when it officially recognized Palestine as a state. Ireland, Slovenia and Norway also recognized Palestine in 2024."Nothing that is being discussed here is directed against the State of Israel," Albares insisted, but he added that the "Palestinian people have exactly the same right to peace and security as the Israeli people."

International pressure on Israel mounts

The meeting in Madrid comes as several of Israel's Western allies have joined international calls for it to relent in its military offensive against Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, the de facto rulers of Gaza, whose attack on southern Israel in October 2023 triggered the ongoing war.That terror attack killed 1,218 people, mainly civilians, while the Palestinian militants also took 251 people hostage. Israel's military says 57 hostages are still in Gaza, including 34 who Israel says have died.Israel's response has killed almost 54,000 people in the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry figures.Over 122,000 people have been injured and most of the enclave's buildings and infrastructure have been devastated.After a ceasefire collapse in early March, Israel imposed a blockade on the besieged enclave, blocking entries of food, water, medicine and fuel supplies, worsening an already dire humanitarian situation and provoking fears of a looming famine.Israel said last week that it would allow a "basic amount" of food supplies into Gaza, but aid organizations and the UN have said that the aid is nowhere near enough to alleviate the humanitarian situation."Silence in these moments is complicity in this massacre... that is why we are meeting," Albares said.Ministers and senior representatives from countries and organizations in Europe, including France, the UK, Germany and Italy, and the Arab world were taking part in the meeting. Brazil and Turkey were also involved.France and Saudi Arabia will preside over a UN conference next month on the conflict.