Pedro Sanchez
Pedro SanchezMoncloa Palace/Fernando Calvo/Pool via Reuters

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday that his country will recognize Palestinian statehood by July, Reuters reported.

State news agency EFE and newspapers El Pais and La Vanguardia cited Sanchez as making the informal remarks to the travelling press corps in the Jordanian capital, Amman, on the first day of visits to Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

According to the reports, Sanchez said he expected events to unfold in the conflict ahead of the European Parliament elections in early June and highlighted ongoing debates at the United Nations.

Sanchez, together with the leaders of Ireland, Malta and Slovenia, announced last month they had agreed to "take the first steps" towards recognizing a Palestinian state.

In response, Israel’s Foreign Ministry told the four countries that their plan constituted a "prize for terrorism" that would reduce the chances of a negotiated resolution to the Gaza conflict.

The Palestinian Authority (PA) has long urged countries to recognize “Palestine” as a means of bypassing direct talks with Israel.

While several European countries have recognized “Palestine” in recent years, those moves were symbolic ones that have little, if any, actual diplomatic effect.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron recently said his country could officially recognize a Palestinian state after a ceasefire in Gaza without waiting for the outcome of what could be years-long talks between Israel and the Palestinian Arabs.