Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday announced nine new measures aimed at stopping the “genocide in Gaza.”
“What Israel is doing is not defending itself, it is exterminating a defenceless population,” Sanchez said in a televised address.
He said that although Spain has de facto been applying an export ban on weapons to Israel since 2023, the government will now urgently legislate a “permanent” ban.
Madrid will also prohibit ships transporting fuel to Israeli forces from using Spanish ports. Aircraft carrying defence material will be banned from Spanish airspace.
Sanchez added that people “directly involved in the genocide, violating human rights and war crimes in Gaza” will be prohibited from entering Spain.
We know these measures will not be enough to put an end to the war crimes, but we hope they serve to apply pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people.
Other measures include banning imports from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, limiting Spanish consular services to Spanish citizens living in the occupied territories to the bare minimum, and increasing Spain’s presence in Rafah with additional troops and new joint projects with the Palestinian Authority to provide food and medicine.
Spain will also increase its contribution to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) by €10 million ($11.7 million) and commit €150 million in additional humanitarian aid for Gaza in 2026.
“We know these measures will not be enough to put an end to the war crimes, but we hope they serve to apply pressure to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people,” said Sanchez. “Spain alone cannot stop the war, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try.”
