Spain did not abide by its arm own sales embargo to Israel amid Gaza war, report shows

Spain has continued exporting ammunition to Israel since the start of its offensive on Gaza despite claims to the contrary, a report has revealed, sparking outrage in the Spanish political sphere on Monday.

A report by the Spanish peace organization Centre Delas per la Pau shows Spain continued to export €987,000 ($1.1 million) worth of ammunition to Israel in November, contradicting statements by the Spanish government claiming it had halted exports of weapons to Tel-Aviv since October.

Several high-profile Spanish politicians slammed their government in the wake of the report, which was relayed by the Spanish newspaper El Diario.

“This is unacceptable and contrary to the government’s position. To end the genocide, we insist on decreeing a formal embargo and breaking all military, economic, and trade links with its leaders,” Social Affairs Minister Pablo Bustinduy wrote on X.

European countries are under rising pressure from human rights groups and their own citizens to halt arm sales to Israel, which has been using Western-provided weapons to pound the Gaza strip since November. Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have already been killed by Israeli strikes on Gaza since November, including over 12,300 children.

EU Foreign Policy chief Josep Borrell urged states on Monday to do more to stop the ongoing massacre of civilians in Gaza, including halting the sale of weapons.

“If you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms in order to prevent so many people being killed," Borrell told reporters after a meeting of EU development and aid ministers in Brussels.

Borrell delivered these comments hours after a Dutch court ordered the government of the Netherlands to block all exports of F-35 fighter jet parts to Israel.

Prior to the ruling, sixteen international organisations had issued a joint statement at the end of January urging United Nations member states to stop weapons sales to Israel to avoid further loss of life in Gaza. The group included Amnesty International, War Child, Save the Children and Oxfam.

As the Spanish case shows, political commitments to cease arm sales to Israel are not thoroughly enforced. To justify the latest round of exports, Spain’s Secretary of State for Trade told El Diario that they “corresponded to licenses granted before 7 October.”