Spain plans to introduce a draft resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling for ‘urgent measures to stop the killing of innocent civilians and ensure humanitarian aid’ in Gaza, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Wednesday.
Speaking before the Spanish parliament, Sánchez stressed that ‘the international community cannot remain indifferent to what is happening’ in Gaza, where Israel resumed its military operations against Hamas in March following a two-month truce.
Sánchez, leader of the PSOE socialists and leading a minority coalition government, has been among the most vocal European critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has led to severe shortages of essential resources including food, water, fuel and medicine.
Last year, Spain diverged from many of its European partners and provoked the ire of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration by formally recognising a Palestinian state. ALSO READ: Israel recalls ambassador to Spain over Palestine statehood & threatens ‘serious consequences’.
The conflict escalated after Hamas carried out an unprecedented assault on Israel from Gaza on 7 October, 2023. That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, based on official Israeli figures.
On the same day, 251 individuals were taken hostage by Palestinian militants. Of those, 58 remain in Gaza, with the Israeli military reporting that 34 are believed to be dead.
Israel’s subsequent military response has claimed the lives of at least 52,653 people, primarily civilians, according to the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
Main image – Pedro Sánchez addressing the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2024 (Pool Moncloa / Borja Puig de la Bellacasa).
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