MADRID /PNN /

Spain’s foreign affairs minister announced on Monday that Spain will impose unilateral sanctions on about 12 Israeli colonists involved in terrorist attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank.

In a speech before the Joint Committee of the Spanish House of Representatives, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albarez said that the government began imposing sanctions on “a first group of 12 violent colonists.”

On the other hand, he said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell accepted Spain’s petition for the bloc to review its association agreement with Israel on the basis of potential violations of international humanitarian law.

He called for supporting the decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ordered Israel to refrain from any genocidal measures against the Palestinians, calling on the parties concerned to comply with those temporary decisions.

The Spanish Minister also urged donor countries to continue funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).

He also announced that Spain is preparing a new financial package to continue supporting UNRWA on top of the emergency assistance worth €3.5 million ($3.7 million) Spain has sent after many Western nations began cutting funding over Israeli allegations that some of its members were involved in the Oct. 7 attack.

“Without UNRWA, the fates of many of the 6 million Palestinian refugees it helps is doomed,” he said. “Spain will completely oppose the suspension of funding for the organization. Today, more than ever, the funding is needed.”

Albares said he also pushed for the EU to call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, which he said is even more urgent due to the looming threat of an Israeli military expansion into the densely populated city of Rafah.