The international community should look at sanctions against Israel to stop the war in Gaza, Spain’s foreign minister said, as European and Arab nations gathered in Madrid Sunday to urge an end to its offensive.
Some of Israel’s long-standing allies have added their voices to growing international pressure after it expanded military operations against Gaza’s Hamas rulers, whose 2023 attack on Israel sparked the devastating war.
A two-month aid blockade has worsened shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine in the Palestinian territory, stoking fears of famine.
Aid organizations say the trickle of supplies Israel has recently allowed to enter falls far short of needs.
The talks in Madrid aim to stop Israel’s “inhumane” and “senseless” war in Gaza, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares told reporters before the meeting opened.
Humanitarian aid must enter Gaza “massively, without conditions and without limits, and not controlled by Israel,” he added, describing the Strip as humanity’s “open wound.”
“Silence in these moments is complicity in this massacre... that is why we are meeting,” said Albares.
Representatives from European countries including France, Britain, Germany and Italy 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 taking part, alongside Brazil
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with Albares on the sidelines of the meeting.
During the meeting, they discussed relations between their countries, areas of joint cooperation, and regional and international developments including the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
After the European Union decided this week to review its cooperation deal with Israel, Albares told reporters Spain would request its “immediate suspension.”
Spain would also urge partners to impose an arms embargo on Israel and “not rule out any” individual sanctions against those “who want to ruin the two-state solution forever,” he added.
Sunday’s meeting will also promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot spoke by video link with Arab counterparts on Sunday and would press “the need for coordinated pressure” for a ceasefire, aid and the release of Hamas-held hostages, his office said.
Barrot will also meet the Palestinian Authority’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Varsen Aghabekian Shahin, during a trip to Yerevan next week, the French foreign ministry announced on Sunday.
The diplomatic drive comes one month before a UN conference on the Israel-Palestinian conflicted presided over by France and Saudi Arabia.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has said his country will back draft resolutions at the United Nations aimed at ramping up aid access to Gaza and holding Israel to account over its international humanitarian obligations.
Madrid’s attempt to rally a wider consensus on the war comes a year after it broke with some European allies by recognizing a Palestinian state, infuriating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.
GAZA: A Palestinian source familiar with negotiations aimed at securing a truce between Israel and Hamas in Gaza said Monday that a new proposal involved the release of 10 hostages, a 70-day ceasefire and a partial Israeli withdrawal.
The outline of the new potential deal comes as Israel ramps up its offensive in the Palestinian territory, and follows previous rounds of talks that have failed to reach a breakthrough ever since a two-month ceasefire fell apart in mid-March.
“The new proposal, which is considered a development of the path and vision of US envoy Steve Witkoff, includes the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for a 70-day truce, a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip (and) the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners,” the source close to negotiations told AFP.
The source added that mediators presented the proposal “over the past few days,” without specifying whether it came from the United States, Egypt or Qatar, all of which have been involved in the ceasefire talks throughout the war.
The proposal would involve the release of “five living Israeli hostages during the first week of the agreement’s implementation, and five others before the end of the truce period.”
A second Palestinian source familiar with the talks told AFP that “Israel and Hamas will study the proposal and both sides will respond to the mediators.”
Israel said last week that it was recalling its senior Gaza hostage negotiators from Doha “for consultation,” while leaving some of its team in the Qatari capital.
Israel has recently intensified its campaign in Gaza, calling it an “expansion of the battle” against Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The last ceasefire between the sides fell apart amid disagreements over how to move forward, with Israel resuming its operations in Gaza on March 18.
On March 2, Israel imposed a total aid blockade on the territory that it said was aimed at forcing concessions with Hamas, with UN agencies since warning it has created critical shortages of food, clean water, fuel and medicines.
Israel partially eased the blockade last week, and aid trucks have begun to trickle back into Gaza, though humanitarian groups have urged it to allow more supplies to enter faster.
