The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Israeli Minister Benny Gantz, former Minister of Defense and leader of the Israeli opposition who He joined the war cabinet formed for Netanyahu, they spoke this Friday in a telephone conversation in which they have tried to reduce diplomatic tension between both countries although they have maintained their respective positions on the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

After Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen called its ambassador in Madrid for consultations on Thursday In protest against statements made by Sánchez, the President of the Government met with the Israeli president, Issac Herzog, at the opening of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. But there has been no contact between the two, as reported by sources from the Spanish delegation, although they have been in the same room at the summit and in the family photo of the leaders attending the event.

However, there has been that telephone conversation from Dubai between Sánchez and Gantz after, according to the same sources, was requested by Israel almost immediately after the call became known to questions from the ambassador in Madrid. In it, Sánchez reiterated to Gantz his condemnation of the terrorist attacks by Hamas and his demand that the Israeli hostages be released. “Israel has the right to defend itself from this terrorist attack, but I have reaffirmed that Spain considers the death of civilians in Gaza unbearable and that Israel must comply with International Humanitarian Law,” he explained on social networks.

Gantz has also reported on the conversation on his networks, where he explained who “updated” Sánchez on the conflict and the need for Hamas to be dismantled in Gaza. “I updated – he wrote – on the war and regional developments and emphasized that, for the sake of the security of Israel and Israeli civilians and the restoration of regional stability, the terrorist group Hamas must be dismantled in Gaza” .

The Israeli has assured that the Netanyahu Government attaches great importance to avoiding civilian casualties as much as possible and that Hamas “continues to perpetrate horrible crimes against humanitysuch as using children and women as human shields for their terrorist activities.” The Government has reported that they have been working on this conversation since Thursday night and that it has been constructive, cordial and can serve to redirect the situation. .

Furthermore, they assure that they will continue to do everything possible to achieve the total and absolute normalization of relations, although there is no forecast that Sánchez will speak with the Israeli prime minister soonBenjamin Netanyahu.

Gantz, who joined the war cabinet formed by the Israeli prime ministerBenjamin Netanyahu, after the outbreak of the conflict with Hamas, has also been in charge of recently maintaining contacts with other international leaders with whom there have been diplomatic frictions due to the conflict.

Thus, he was the minister who spoke with the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, after a diplomatic clash over his words in which he asked Israel maximum restraint to minimize the high number of victims in Gaza. Gantz also had a telephone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron last month.