Madrid (TDI): The global community should look at sanctions against Israel to stop the war in Gaza, Spain’s foreign minister said, as European and Arab leaders gathered in Madrid Sunday to urge an end to its offensive.
Some of Israel’s long-standing allies have added their voices to increasing global pressure after it expanded military operations against Hamas in Gaza, whose 2023 attack on Israel erupted the catastrophic war.
A two-month assistance blockade has worsened the situation in the besieged enclave as shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine stoking fears of famine.
Aid organizations have said that the trickle of supplies Israel has recently allowed to enter is not enough.
The gathering in Madrid aims to stop Israel’s “inhumane” and “senseless” war in Gaza, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told journalists before the meeting opened.
Humanitarian assistance must enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel,” he further said, terming the enclave as humanity’s “open wound.”
Read More: EU, UK Angry Over Israel Amid New Gaza Offensive
Albares said that silence in these moments is complicity in this massacre and that is why we are meeting.
Representatives from European nations including France, UK, Germany and Italy, who joined envoys from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Turkiye, Morocco, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
Norway, Iceland, Ireland and Slovenia, who like Spain have already recognized a Palestinian state, are also attending, alongside Brazil.
Read More: Malta to Recognize State of Palestine in June
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan called on Albares on the margins of the meeting.
During the meeting, they discussed bilateral ties, areas of collaboration, and regional and global developments including the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Farkhund Yousafzai is an Associate Editor at The Diplomatic Insight.
