MADRID: Spain’s Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, condemned the “catastrophic” humanitarian situation in Gaza during a phone call with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa on Friday.
He reaffirmed Spain’s full support for a lasting peace in Gaza and an end to the violence in the West Bank.
“Spain will continue working with the Palestinian Authority to sustain its financial viability and its reform plan,” he wrote on X, calling on Israel to transfer Palestinian tax revenues.
He hablado con el primer ministro de Palestina, Mohammad Mustafa.
Le he trasladado todo el apoyo a la paz definitiva en Gaza y al cese de la violencia en Cisjordania. (1/3)
— José Manuel Albares (@jmalbares) January 2, 2026
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Finance, Israel has been withholding nearly $2 billion in Palestinian tax revenues since 2019, a move the ministry described as a “flagrant violation” of all signed agreements.
Albares stressed that the expansion of illegal settlements must come to an end, noting that 2025 concluded as a record-breaking year for settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank. He pointed to Israel’s far-right coalition for approving an unprecedented number of new settlements and housing projects.
Earlier this week, Israel approved the construction of 126 settler housing units in the Sa-Nur settlement outpost in the northern West Bank, an area that had been evacuated in 2005 under Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan.
“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic. Restrictions on NGOs are unacceptable and worsen the situation,” said the Spanish foreign minister, stressing that UN agengies including the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) must be able to operate freely in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
“We will take part in the reconstruction so that Gazans have a future in their own land,” he added.
Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which began in October 2023, has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, and left the enclave largely devastated. Although a ceasefire took effect in October 2025, Israeli violations have continued, according to Palestinian sources.
