Leaders met in Spain about Israel - Gaza:
42 countries attend Union for the Mediterranean annual meeting over Israel
A summit of the Union of the Mediterranean nations started in Barcelona with calls to extend the ceasefire in Gaza. Arab and European leaders of nations along the Mediterranean rim are attending with the talks aiming to convince European countries to pressure Israel to commit to an extension of the Gaza truce.
Palestinian diplomat appeals for Gaza truce to be extended as EU and Arab nations meet in Spain
“We have to find how to apply the necessary pressure so that the Israeli government does not continue killing innocent people, so that we can continue counting cadavers,” Riad al-Maliki said in Spanish during a news conference during the gathering of diplomats in Barcelona, Spain.
Israel is not attending the meeting hosted by the Union for the Mediterranean and chaired by the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi. Many of the 42 delegations were represented by their foreign ministers.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares speaks at the forum:
Spain advocates Palestinian Authority’s return to Gaza, replacing Hamas
Albares called for the effective return of the Palestinian Authority to the war-torn Gaza Strip, replacing the ruling Islamist Hamas group.
The foreign minister made these remarks at the 8th regional forum of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), where foreign ministers from the Euro-Mediterranean region convened for a two-day conference in Barcelona. Israel chose to skip the meeting.
Emphasizing that the Palestinian Authority is the only feasible partner for peace, Albares apparently sought to address the controversy after Israeli accusations that Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez supported terrorism by Hamas.