The Diplomat
The Spanish government yesterday condemned the attacks launched by Hamas and other Palestinian militias from the Gaza Strip against Israel, which have left more than 250 people dead and more than 900 wounded.
In a message on his social networking account “X”, the acting prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, wrote: “We follow with dismay the terrorist attack against Israel and we sympathise with the victims and their families.”
“We roundly condemn terrorism and demand the immediate cessation of indiscriminate violence against the civilian population,” he added, also noting that “Spain remains committed to regional stability”.
On the same social network, the acting foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said: “We strongly condemn the extremely serious terrorist attacks from Gaza against Israel”.
Albares said he was “shocked” by what he described as “indiscriminate violence” and expressed the government’s solidarity with the victims. “Spain is firmly committed to peace, security and stability in the region,” he said.
However, the acting second vice-president and leader of SUMAR, Yolanda Díaz, did not issue a word of condemnation and limited herself to expressing her “dismay” at the images coming from Israel and Gaza and her “solidarity with all the victims”. On the social network X, she wrote: “We need a just, lasting and sustainable peace and that means complying with international law, ending the occupation and allowing the Palestinian people to live in dignity. The international community cannot stand idly by”.
From the PP, its president, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, condemned the attack perpetrated from Gaza, stating: “Terrorism is the enemy of all and must be defeated”. The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, also expressed their condemnation.
The Israeli ambassador to Spain, Rodica Radian-Gordon, expressed her gratitude on social media for the support shown by the head of the Spanish government and the leaders of the PP.
The European Union, through the High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, also stated: “We are following the news from Israel with anguish. We unequivocally condemn the Hamas attacks. This horrific violence must stop immediately. Terrorism and violence solve nothing”.
Other European countries, including Germany, France, the UK and Italy, also expressed their condemnation of the attack, which took place yesterday morning when Hamas sent gunmen across the border while some 5,000 rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory. In addition, Hamas militiamen infiltrated the city of Sderot, where a battle with Israeli troops broke out, as well as the Gaza border, where militiamen abducted dozens of Israeli soldiers, who were killed or wounded, as well as civilians, including women, some of whom were harassed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared a “state of war” in response to the Hamas-launched operation, dubbed the “Al Aqsa flood”, which was one of the terrorist movement’s biggest attacks since it took control of the Strip in 2006. Netayahu warned Israelis: “Our country is at war and we will win it. He added: “Our enemy will pay a price he has never known before.
Dozens of fighter jets were involved in the IDF’s counter-offensive under the name “Iron Swords”, which hit many of the Islamist movement’s targets in the enclave. As a result, more than 230 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 1,700 injured.
