Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced the immediate implementation of nine measures "to stop the genocide in Gaza, to prosecute the perpetrators and to support the Palestinian population" .

The measures, announced in a video message to the nation from the Moncloa Palace to curb the "massacre," are contained in an emergency decree that will be approved tomorrow by the Council of Ministers and will come into effect "immediately."

They include the legal consolidation of the arms embargo on Israel , already in force since October 2023; the ban on entry into Spain "of all persons directly participating in the genocide, violations of human rights and war crimes in the Gaza Strip"; and more humanitarian aid .

In addition to the permanent legal ban on the sale or purchase of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment from Israel, the decree also prohibits transit through Spanish ports for all ships carrying fuel destined for the Israeli armed forces. It also prohibits entry into Spanish airspace for all state aircraft carrying defense material destined for Israel .

Other measures include a ban on imports of products from illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza and the West Bank , to curb occupation and the forced displacement of the Palestinian civilian population and "keep the two-state solution alive." Furthermore, increased cooperation with the Palestinian Authority, including an increase in the number of troops in the EU border assistance mission at Rafah, and new collaborative projects in agriculture, food security, and medical assistance.

Furthermore, Spain's contribution to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) is expected to increase by €10 million, along with humanitarian aid for Gaza to €150 million in 2026.

Sanchez began his speech by acknowledging the "countless and unjust persecutions" suffered by the Jewish people throughout history, "including the most atrocious, the Holocaust." He recalled that the Spanish government has condemned "from day one the terrorist attacks and kidnappings" of Israeli hostages by Hamas. Madrid "will always support Israel's right to exist, to guarantee its security, and to prosper," but "with the same conviction" distinguishes between "protecting your country and its society" and "bombing hospitals and starving children," the Spanish prime minister emphasized.

"What the Israeli Prime Minister announced in October 2023 as a military operation against the atrocious terrorist attacks by Hamas has ended up becoming a new wave of illegal occupations and an unjustifiable attack against the Palestinian civilian population . An attack that the UN Special Rapporteur and the majority of experts already define as genocide," Pedro Sanchez added. He recalled the "63,000 dead, 159,000 wounded, 250,000 people at risk of acute malnutrition, and 2 million forcibly displaced. This is not self-defense, it is the extermination of a defenseless people, a violation of humanitarian law ," he concluded.

(Unioneonline)

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