MADRID: Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced nine measures aimed at stopping "the genocide in Gaza", including an arms embargo on Israel and a ban on vessels carrying fuel for the Israeli military from using Spanish ports. The announcement marks the latest escalation of Spain's outspoken criticism of the Israeli offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas attack on Israel in 2023.
The measures aim to "stop the genocide in Gaza, pursue its perpetrators and support the Palestinian population", Sanchez said in a televised address. He said his left-wing government would approve a decree to "consolidate in law" a ban on military equipment sales or purchases with Israel, a measure it had applied since the start of the conflict.
Boats carrying fuel destined for the Israeli military will be barred from Spanish ports, and Spain will act to reduce the transport of military equipment to Israel by air, Sanchez said. "All those people participating directly in the genocide, the violation of human rights and war crimes in the Gaza Strip" will be banned from entering Spanish territory, he added.
Spain will also ban the importation of products from "illegal settlements" in the Palestinian territories with the aim of stopping "the forced displacement of the Palestinian population" and supporting the two-state solution, Sanchez said. Consular services for Spanish citizens residing in illegal Israeli settlements will be limited "to the legally obligatory minimum assistance", he said.
Sanchez also announced new collaboration projects in agriculture, food security and medical aid to support the Palestinian Authority and additional humanitarian funds for Palestinians. Sanchez has been one of the most outspoken critics of Israel's war in Gaza, becoming the most senior European leader to refer to the conflict as a "genocide". His leftist government broke with European allies last year by recognising a Palestinian state, infuriating Israel.
Meanwhile, the UN rights chief accused Israeli officials on Monday of using overt "genocidal rhetoric" about Gaza and called for decisive international action to "end the carnage". In a speech to the UN Human Rights Council that was criticised by Israel, Volker Turk said the occupied Palestinian territory was already "a graveyard". He accused Israel of inflicting "indescribable suffering and wholesale destruction" and added: "I am horrified by the open use of genocidal rhetoric and the disgraceful dehumanisation of Palestinians by senior Israeli officials."
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that nearly two years after the war erupted following Hamas's deadly attack on Israel, "the region is crying out for peace". The Israeli army bombed a Gaza City residential tower block on Sunday — the third in as many days — and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the military was "deepening" its assault on the Gaza Strip's key urban centre.
The UN estimates nearly one million people remain in and around Gaza City, where it officially declared a famine last month. "Further militarisation, occupation, annexation and oppression will only feed more violence, retribution and terror," Turk warned. He insisted Israel had "a legal obligation to take the steps ordered by the International Court of Justice to prevent acts of genocide, punish incitement to genocide and ensure enough aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza".
The UN rights chief said the international community was "failing the people of Gaza. "Where are the decisive steps to prevent genocide?" he asked, demanding that countries do more to "avert atrocity crimes". "They must stop the flow to Israel of arms that risk violating the laws of war," he said.
"We need action now, to end the carnage." Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,368 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable. — AFP
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