Spain announces nine anti-Israel measures including arms embargo

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced nine new measures Monday ‘to stop the genocide in Gaza’, including legally consolidating Spain’s arms embargo and banning ships carrying fuel to Israeli forces from Spanish ports.

Sánchez said in a statement that Israel’s military operation ‘has ended up becoming a new wave of illegal occupations and an unjustifiable attack against the Palestinian civilian population’.

‘The Spanish government believes that protecting your country is one thing and bombing hospitals and starving innocent children to death is quite another,’ Sánchez said, citing figures of 63,000 dead, 159,000 injured and nearly two million displaced people, half of them minors.

The centrepiece measure involves urgent approval of a Royal Decree Law legally consolidating Spain’s arms embargo on Israel, which has been in place since October 2023, establishing ‘a legal and permanent ban on the purchase and sale of weapons, ammunition, and military equipment’ to Israel.

Spain will also prohibit transit through Spanish ports for ships carrying fuel destined for Israeli armed forces and deny entry into Spanish airspace ‘to all state aircraft transporting defense material destined for Israel’.

In addition, the government will ban entry to Spanish territory for ‘all persons directly involved in genocide, human rights violations, and war crimes in Gaza’ and prohibit imports from illegal settlements in Gaza and the West Bank.

Spain plans to limit consular services for Spanish citizens residing in illegal Israeli settlements to the bare minimum, while strengthening support for the Palestinian Authority by increasing Spanish troops in the EU’s Border Assistance Mission in Rafah.

The measures include an additional €10 million for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees and increased humanitarian aid reaching €150 million by 2026.

Earlier Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar condemned Madrid’s measures and announced sanctions on two Spanish ministers, accusing Spain’s government of advancing antisemitic policies. ‘The government of Spain is leading a hostile, anti-Israel line, marked by wild, hate-filled rhetoric.’

Following Sa’ar’s comments, Spain recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv for consultations.

The exchange marks a new low in ties between Jerusalem and Madrid, which have steadily deteriorated as Spain has expressed increasing anger over Israel’s war in Gaza sparked by Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack.

Spain joins growing European pressure on Israel’s military operations. 

Scotland announced last week it would suspend new public funding to arms companies supplying Israel.  Multiple European countries have imposed arms export restrictions since October 2023, with Slovenia becoming the first EU nation to ban all arms trade, followed by Germany halting Gaza-related exports and Italy suspending new licences. The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Canada and some autonomous regions of Belgium have implemented various restrictions ranging from complete suspensions to