Emergency workers use excavators to clear the rubble at the site of Israeli strike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon. Photo |AP
World

Spanish PM calls Israeli strikes in Lebanon an 'invasion'

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez earlier said that he had "serious doubts that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law" in Gaza. Spain had in May recognised a Palestinian state.

AFP

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez described Israel's military offensives in Lebanon as an "invasion" on Wednesday, saying that the international community had to act.

"It is clear that there has been an invasion by a third country of a sovereign state such as Lebanon, and therefore the international community cannot remain indifferent," the Socialist premier told parliament.

"We denounced (this situation) in Ukraine, we also denounce it in Gaza and now we are also denouncing the invasion of Lebanon," he added.

Israel launched ground incursions into southern Lebanon on September 30 where some 10,000 peacekeepers are deployed under the command of a Spanish general.

It says the aim is to keep Hezbollah away from the border areas where the group is established and stop it firing rockets towards northern Israel.

According to official Lebanese figures, nearly 2,000 people have been killed in Lebanon since October 2023, including more than a thousand since the start of Israeli strikes in the south and east of its territory, as well as in the southern suburbs of Beirut, on September 23.

Sanchez is one of the most outspoken critics among European Union leaders of Israel's war on Gaza dubbed by many as a genocide.

He earlier said that he had "serious doubts that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law" in Gaza. Spain had in May recognised a Palestinian state.

Sanchez also expressed his regret at the "lack of agreement within the European Union" on the situation in the Middle East.

"I regret this because I believe that on these issues, we should be consistent not with our position, but consistent with the defence of international law and international humanitarian law," he said.

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