Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Monday that Spain will "increase pressure" on Israel by banning ships and planes carrying weapons en route to Israel from visiting Spanish ports or entering Spanish airspace. Spain will also increase aid to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and impose an embargo on goods manufactured in Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Spain will also ban anyone who directly participated in what Sánchez called "genocide" from entering the country.
Una cosa es proteger tu país y otra muy distinta bombardear hospitales y matar de hambre a niños inocentes.
Lo que está haciendo Israel es exterminar a un pueblo indefenso. Es quebrantar todas las leyes del derecho humanitario.
No podemos quedarnos de brazos cruzados. pic.twitter.com/Rixepv1nRN
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 8, 2025
"We hope these measures will increase pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his government to alleviate some of the suffering endured by the Palestinian population," Sánchez said in a public speech broadcast on local television. He wrote on X: "It's one thing to protect your country, but quite another to bomb hospitals and starve innocent children. What Israel is doing is exterminating a defenseless people. It's breaking all the rules of humanitarian law. We can't stand idly by."
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar stated on Monday, stating that Sánchez is attempting to divert public attention from his internal corruption scandals and described his actions as "antisemitic."
Israel responded by banning Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz and Youth Minister Sira Rego, both from the far-left junior coalition partner Sumar, from entering Israel.
