Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has announced sanctions on Spain in response to Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's announcement that weapons shipments to Israel would be barred from entering Spanish ports. Saar accused Spain's government of "pursuing a hostile anti-Israel policy" and said it was using rhetoric "dripping with hatred." Saar said that with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's approval, Spain's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Diaz, would be barred from entering Israel.
Tens of thousands of reservists in Israel will return to active service in the coming weeks amid an intense debate in their ranks over the war in Gaza, which reflects wider divisions in the country. Some will be forced to make their decision within days. The Israel Defense Forces began mobilising tens of thousands of reservists on Tuesday after calling up 60,000 for an expanded offensive in Gaza City, one of the few places in the devastated territory outside its control.
The Israeli military has announced the first steps of an operation to take over Gaza City and said it was calling up an extra 60,000 reservists for the offensive. It came as the government considered a new ceasefire proposal that Hamas has agreed on to pause the war and, separately, Israel approved a huge new illegal settlement in the West Bank.
Israel is killing all prospects for peace in the Middle East, Jordan's foreign minister has said amid escalating international outrage over Israel's plans for a new large-scale offensive in Gaza City and its intention to massively expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Ayman Safadi made his remarks during a visit to Moscow on the same day that the Israeli defence minister, Israel Katz, approved a plan to conquer Gaza City, an urban area that is home to hundreds of thousands of people in the north of the Palestinian territory.
