Logo
×

Follow Us

World

Spain, Israel spar over Gaza

Agencies, Gaza/Madrid

Published: 08 Sep 2025

Spain, Israel spar over Gaza
A A

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday announced a ban on Israel-bound ships and planes carrying weapons from using Spanish ports while Israel accused Spain of antisemitism and barred two government ministers from entry.

Pedro Sanchez announced measures aimed at stopping what he called "the genocide in Gaza".

The Spanish PM said vessels transporting fuel for Israel's military would also be under the embargo as part of efforts to pressure Israel's government.

"We hope that they will serve to add pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to alleviate some of the suffering that the Palestinian population is enduring," Sanchez said in an address aired on local TV.

Spain will also ban anyone who has participated directly in what Sanchez qualified as "genocide" from entering the country.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has announced sanctions on Spain in response to the Sanchez's announcement.

Saar said that with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diaz, would be barred from entering Israel.

Israel's top diplomat said that the country was cutting relations with her, accusing her of antisemitism.

Meanwhile, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in east Jerusalem on Monday, killing six people and wounding several others, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in one of the deadliest anti-Israeli attacks since the outbreak of the Gaza war.

Israeli police said "two terrorists arrived in a vehicle" and opened fire towards a bus stop at Ramot Junction, on the city's northern outskirts. An off-duty soldier and a civilian returned fire, "neutralising" the attackers, it added.

Israeli media identified the dead as five men, aged between 25 and 79, and a 60-year-old woman. Local hospitals said two of the wounded were in a serious condition.

There was no immediate claim from any armed groups, although Hamas praised the attack.

On the other hand, Israeli attacks across Gaza on Monday killed at least 40 people and destroyed another high-rise in Gaza City, bringing the number of buildings razed during its campaign to seize the largest urban centre in the Gaza Strip to at least 50.

Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 64,522 people so far and wounded 163,096. Thousands more are believed to be under the rubble.

US President Donald Trump has said his administration is working on a solution that could be good for Gaza, hours after issuing what he called a “final warning” to Hamas.

Trump made the comments to reporters on Sunday after arriving in Washington, DC, following a brief trip to New York.

“We’re working on a solution that may be very good,” he said, describing Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and Hamas’s holding of dozens of Israeli captives as a “hell of a problem”.

“It’s a problem we want to solve for the Middle East, for Israel, for everybody. But it’s a problem we’re going to get done,” he said.

“You’ll be hearing about it pretty soon. We’re trying to get it ended, get the hostages back,” he added.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump said he had put forward a new proposal to end the war in Gaza, saying that Israel had accepted his terms. He went on to warn Hamas to accept his conditions, saying that he informed the group about the “consequences” of turning down the offer.

Israel's Supreme Court has ruled that the state is failing to provide adequate food to Palestinian prisoners, and must take steps to improve their nutrition.

The three-judge bench said on Sunday that the government was legally obliged to provide prisoners with enough nutrition to ensure "a basic level of existence".

Thousands of Palestinians have been held in Israeli jails for years, including over terror charges - and thousands more have been detained since the war in Gaza began in October 2023.

 

Read More