Spain is prepared to send troops to “Palestine" for peacekeeping “when the opportunity presents itself," Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday, according to a report in the AFP news agency.
“I will propose to parliament, when the opportunity presents itself, that we send peacekeeping troops to Palestine, once we can see how to advance this task of pacification," he told a gathering of Spanish ambassadors in Madrid.
“Of course, we have not forgotten Palestine and the Gaza Strip... Spain must actively participate in rebuilding hope in Palestine. The situation there remains intolerable."
Spain, which recognized the “State of Palestine" in 2024, has been among Europe’s most outspoken critics of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched after the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
In November of 2023, Spain’s Ambassador to Israel was summoned by the Foreign Ministry after Sanchez claimed that "Israel is violating international law and is carrying out indiscriminate killings in Gaza."
Last April, Sanchez criticized what he called Israel's "disproportionate response" in the Gaza war, saying it risks "destabilizing the Middle East, and as a consequence, the entire world".
A month later, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares advocated for international sanctions against Israel, citing the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.