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Manila Bulletin devider World devider Spanish PM meets families of Hamas-held hostages

Spanish PM meets families of Hamas-held hostages

Published Feb 7, 2024 12:38 am

MADRID, Spain - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met Tuesday in Madrid with families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas and called for their "immediate and unconditional release".

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In this handout photograph taken and released by the Spanish Prime Minister's office La Moncloa on February 6, 2024, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez meets with a relative of hostages held in Gaza since the October 7 attacks by Hamas, at La Moncloa Palace in Madrid. (AFP PHOTO / Spanish Prime Minister's office La Moncloa)

The Palestinian militant group seized around 250 hostages during an unprecedented attack against Israel on October 7 which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Israel says 132 of the hostages remain in Gaza including 28 who are believed to have been killed.

Israel responded to the attack with an air and ground offensive that has killed at least 27,585 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

Eight parents of hostages met Sanchez at his official residence in Madrid, as well as a former captive who was released in November during a truce in the fighting between Israel and Hamas, the prime minister's office said in a statement.

A video released by the office showed Sanchez and the relatives of the hostages, some of them holding large photos of their family members, sitting around a glass table.

"We demand their immediate and unconditional release. There is no justification for violence," he wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after the meeting.

"The two-state solution, Israel and Palestine, coexisting in peace and security, is the only way to definitively resolve the conflict," he added.

Spain, along with Ireland and Belgium, is one of the most critical voices in Europe of Israel's offensive against Hamas.

Relations between the two countries have soured over Madrid's position.

Israel recalled its top diplomat in Madrid in November after Sanchez expressed doubts about the legality of Israel's war in Gaza. She returned in January.

"Spain is, I believe, on the right side of history," Sanchez said Monday during an interview with private television La Sexta.

"The right side of history is to respect human rights, to establish a permanent ceasefire, to let in humanitarian aid" into Gaza in the proportion that it is needed, he added.

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