Pedro Sánchez insists on his commitment to two state solution, Israel and Palestine, on the first stop of their tour of the Middle East. The Spanish president defended this this Thursday before the Israeli authorities and also in a meeting with the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to whom he also conveyed that It should be the Palestinian Authority that assumes control of the Gaza Strip once the current one ends conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Abbas has received the Spanish president and the Belgian prime minister, Alexander de Croo, who is accompanying him on this trip, in Ramallah, where Sánchez has reiterated Spain’s commitment to the two-state solution, which he understands as the best way to achieve peace in the region and guarantee Israel’s security. Furthermore, he has advocated for the Palestinian Authority to assume control of Gaza and has asserted that Hamas must be held accountable.

He has done so, precisely, after visit one of the attacked kibbutz last October 7th. There, Sánchez has asked that “those who have perpetrated this barbarity, this terrorist attack, appear before Justice.”

Sánchez: “The number of dead Palestinians is unbearable”

The head of the Spanish Executive has also defended the two-state solution before the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the president of the country, Isaac Herzog. “Today peace means the establishment of the Palestinian statea visible and viable Palestinian State that includes the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, in accordance with the UN resolution,” he assured.

Furthermore, Sánchez has condemned in Jerusalem the “atrocities” committed by the Islamist group, warning however that Israel’s response “cannot involve the death of innocent civilians in Gaza, including thousands of children”. Thus, he underlined the need to “urgently stop the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza”, denouncing face to face with Netanyahu that “The number of dead Palestinians is unbearable”.

The Israeli ‘premier’, for his part, has shown Sánchez and Croo a video of the Hamas attack. “Israel has the right to defend itself against these attacks,” stated the Spanish president, who also wanted to make it clear that “Israel must comply with international law“.

After his meetings in Israel and the West Bank, the President of the Government has also met with relatives of those kidnapped by Hamas, precisely on the eve of the start of the “humanitarian truce” agreed between the Islamist group and Israel for the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners. After the meeting, held at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport, Sánchez has traveled to Cairowhere on Friday he plans to meet with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.