Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called for an end to Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, stressing a two-state solution that includes the establishment of a separate Palestinian state alongside Israel.
“We reiterate our call for an immediate end to the war in Gaza. The international community and Europe cannot remain silent about the suffering of thousands of innocent people, especially women and children,” he said after his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Madrid, as reported by Anadolu, Friday (20/9).
He said they discussed the spread of the conflict to Lebanon, which suffered two waves of deadly communications device explosions on its territory on Tuesday and Wednesday (18/9), killing more than three dozen people and wounding thousands more.
“We cannot live with death and destruction, and we cannot accept violence,” he said at a joint press conference.
Israel and Lebanon have been trading fire across the border zone since a Hamas offensive on October 7, allowing Israel to launch a series of brutal attacks on Gaza on a daily basis, using a variety of weapons, including phosphorus bombs, killing more than 41,300 Palestinians and wounding more than 95,000 others.
Israel has intensified its attacks on the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, but the explosions of communications devices across Lebanon caught many by surprise, with the Beirut government and Hezbollah blaming Israel for the attacks, which killed 37 people, including women and children, and wounded around 3,000 others.
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But so far, both Hezbollah and Israel have refrained from engaging in open warfare involving ground attacks. Prime Minister Sanchez urged all parties involved to avoid further escalation of the conflict.
Spain is one of the European countries that has decided to officially recognize the State of Palestine as a sign of support for the peace process with Israel.
Sanchez called on Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip to pave the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
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President Abbas, for his part, expressed gratitude to the Spanish Prime Minister for his steadfast support for the Palestinian people and called for a peace conference in Madrid.
“We are committed to maintaining a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” Abbas said.
He said he planned to go to Gaza with all Palestinian leaders to demand an end to the war in the strip and had invited Western leaders to join him, including the UN secretary-general.
The talks between the two leaders covered strengthening bilateral relations and ways to develop them in all fields and issues of mutual interest, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa said.
Israel is obliged to comply with international law and legitimate international resolutions, the latest of which was Wednesday’s (18/9) resolution by the UN General Assembly calling on Israel to end its illegal presence in the occupied Palestinian territories within 12 months. (I_2)
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