Spanish PM open to sending troops to maintain peace in Palestine

MADRID, Spain: Spain is ready to send troops to Palestine for peacekeeping “when the opportunity presents itself,” just as it is willing to deploy forces to Ukraine, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Thursday.

“I will propose to parliament, when the opportunity presents itself, that we send peacekeeping troops to Palestine, once we can see how to advance this task of pacification,” he told a gathering of Spanish ambassadors in Madrid.

“Of course, we have not forgotten Palestine and the Gaza Strip… Spain must actively participate in rebuilding hope in Palestine. The situation there remains intolerable.”

Sanchez also reaffirmed Spain’s willingness to deploy troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal, calling the current moment “critical” and “decisive” for achieving peace there.

“If Spain has sent peacekeeping troops to many regions far from our country, how could we not send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, a European country?” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is against having any foreign peacekeeping troops on Ukrainian soil.

The Spanish government, which recognised the State of Palestine in 2024, has been one of Europe’s most vocal critics of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched following the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

At the end of last year, Sanchez called for raising awareness about the “dramatic situation” of Palestinians during a meeting in Madrid with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.