Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday urged other members of the European Union to respond to Madrid and Ireland's request to suspend the bloc's free trade agreement with Israel over its actions in Gaza and Lebanon.
For months, both Spain and Ireland have been in talks with other EU countries who want a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement on the basis that Israel may be breaching the agreement's human rights clause.
Israel began a war on the Gaza Strip a year ago after the Iran-backed Palestinian Hamas group launched a surprise attack into Israel killing 1,200 Israelis and taking 250 people hostage.
The war has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, killing more than 42,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians. It says more than half were women and children.
In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon and some other areas of the country, attacking the militants with exploding pagers, airstrikes and, eventually, incursions into Lebanon.
