<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced this Monday before the Congress a new voluntary Spanish contribution of half a million euros to strengthen international investigations into human rights violations in the Gaza Strip.</strong></h4> Albares made this announcement during his appearance before the Congressional Foreign Affairs Committee to present, among other matters, the new Foreign Action Strategy for the period 2025-2028, approved by the government on April 1, and the priorities of Spanish foreign policy. This appearance was initially scheduled for last Monday, but was postponed due to the massive power outage across mainland Spain. During his speech, Albares denounced the situation in the Gaza Strip as "unacceptable" because "Israel has been blocking the entry of humanitarian aid into the Strip for seven weeks, which is causing an unprecedented famine." Therefore, he reiterated Spain's urgent call to Israel to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the enclave and assured that the Government will continue supporting the UN, especially the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), as well as the Palestinian Authority and Spanish and local non-governmental organizations. "We are prepared to continue sending our aid as soon as it can access the Strip," he added. The minister also announced "a new voluntary contribution of half a million euros" to the UN, "complementary to contributions already made," with the aim of helping the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights "increase its efforts to investigate human rights violations and war crimes that may have been committed in Gaza" and, therefore, "to put an end to these violations of international law and ensure accountability." During the debate, some of the government's parliamentary partners, such as the BNG (National Liberation Front) and Bildu (Bildu), demanded explanations from the minister regarding the possible shipment of arms to Israel, and Podemos spokesperson Javier Sánchez asked him to clarify whether Spain will terminate the 46 contracts signed with Israeli arms companies before October 7, 2023. "There are no new licenses for arms exports to Israel, nor are ships allowed to stopover" with weapons on board, Albares asserted. <h5><strong>Rearmament</strong></h5> Another topic addressed in the debate was the decision by Pedro Sánchez's government to increase military spending and even to bring forward the 2 percent target previously planned for 2029 to this year, 2025, through the new Rearmament Plan. According to Albares, "the new international context forces Spain to contribute more to defense" to "defend our way of life." <span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">He also stated that what is at stake is whether Europe is governed by the multilateral order or "by the law of the jungle," and asserted that eight out of every ten euros will stay in Spain and nine out of every ten in Europe.</span></span></span> In his response, Agustín Santos of Sumar (a minority partner in the coalition government) warned that European security and defense require "coordinated European forces," which "will not be possible within the framework of NATO," and called for resources to support "peace, multilateralism, and international law." For their part, MPs Néstor Rego of the BNG (National Liberation Front) and Jon Iñarritu of EH Bildu (EH Bildu) announced that their parliamentary groups would not support the General Budget if it included an increase in defense spending. Podemos spokesperson denounced that the increase in military spending would not serve to make Europe independent of the US in defense matters, but rather "to shore up our dependence" because a large part of that spending would be allocated to the purchase of American weapons. At the other end of the Lower House, Carlos Floriano (PP) denounced that the Government's Rearmament Plan is coming "without the agreement of the Council of Ministers, without a budget, without authorization from Congress, and without providing details of where the funds will come from," and <span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">Carlos Flores (Vox) condemned the “unacceptable ideological biases” of the Foreign Action Plan.</span></span></span> <div class="lRu31" dir="ltr"> <div class="OvtS8d"></div> <div id="ow63"></div> </div> <div class="UdTY9 WdefRb" aria-hidden="true" data-location="2"></div>
