Spanish minister calls for sanctions on Israeli government amid Rafah invasion

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spain’s youth minister called for sanctions on the Israeli government on Tuesday after the Israeli army seized control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.

Sira Rego, the Spanish minister of Palestinian descent, slammed the Israeli “invasion and bombing of Rafah,” in a social media post, accusing Tel Aviv of “blocking people from leaving and humanitarian aid from entering all of Gaza.”

“Spain should impose sanctions on (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu’s government, which is committing genocide against the Palestinian people,” she wrote.

Rego echoed the Belgian prime minister’s calls for sanctions on Israel, something the wider Spanish government has not yet backed.

On Monday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned that an offensive on Rafah would only increase the suffering of Palestinian people and said the “international community cannot stand passively by in the face of this tragedy.”

He spoke with the Irish and Qatari leaders about the situation, vowing to recognize an independent Palestinian state “shortly.”

On Friday, Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares will also meet with his American counterpart Antony Blinken to discuss the situation in Palestine.

However, some opposition figures in Spain are slamming the national government for not going far enough.

“Rafah is the last place in the Gaza Strip where hundreds of thousands of people are taking refuge. There is nowhere to run,” posted Ione Belarra, head of the left-wing political group Podemos, on X.

“European leaders have been accomplices in all of this. This pain will haunt us forever,” she added.

Meanwhile, in Spain, student groups have begun protesting and camping out on university campuses across the country in solidarity with the Palestinians.

At least 34,789 Palestinians have so far been killed in Israel’s ongoing offensive on the Gaza Strip since last October, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice.

An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.