Reuters quoted Sanchez as saying that he announced nine measures aimed at halting the "genocide in Gaza," adding that the government would pass a bill to implement an effective arms embargo against Israel.
He added that the Spanish government will increase its aid to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), and will impose a ban on goods manufactured in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In a related development, sources told the Spanish website El Pais that the ban will include all direct and indirect transactions with any Israeli entity, whether public or private, in addition to the possibility of declaring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a number of his ministers persona non grata in Spain.
The Spanish government, headed by Pedro Sánchez, had previously pledged to halt arms sales to Israel following the events of October 7, 2023, before expanding its commitment last year to include halting arms purchases from Israel. In recent months, Spain has canceled several high-profile deals with Israeli companies.
Left-wing political alliances, most notably the Sumar coalition, are currently pushing the government to take more stringent measures, including severing all trade ties with what they describe as "Netanyahu's criminal regime" and demanding that Netanyahu and other Israeli defense, finance, and security ministers be declared persona non grata due to what they describe as their incitement to "genocide, starvation, and ethnic cleansing."
Political leaders also called for preventing ships carrying weapons for Israel from entering Spanish ports.
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In a related context, relations between Spain and Israel have witnessed increasing tension following Madrid's decision to recognize the State of Palestine in May 2024, coinciding with Ireland and Norway.
Separately, the Israeli cycling team Israel-Premier Tech was subjected to pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel protests during the Tour de la Voita a España last week, prompting the team to remove its name from its competition uniforms and instead use the team logo to protect the safety of its riders.
Since last March, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It has closed the crossings and allowed in only extremely small amounts of aid, disproportionate to the Strip's needs. It has distributed the aid through "suspicious" organizations that are not affiliated with the United Nations. It has also opened fire on those waiting for aid, killing and wounding thousands.
With American support, Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza since October 7, 2023, leaving 64,455 Palestinians dead, 162,776 injured, most of them children and women, more than 9,000 missing, hundreds of thousands displaced, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 387 Palestinians, including 138 children.
For decades, Israel has occupied Palestine and territories in Syria and Lebanon, and refuses to withdraw from these territories and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the pre-1967 borders.