"Spanish PM Sánchez urges countries to stop selling arms to Israel"

Spanish PM joins a similiar plea from French President Emmanuel Macron.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez urged the international community on Friday to stop selling weapons to Israel, according to Agence France-Presse.

"In the light of everything that is happening in the Middle East, it is urgent that the international community stop exporting arms to the Israeli government," he said, speaking after meeting with Pope Francis in Rome.

"Let me at this point criticize and condemn the attacks that the Israeli armed forces are carrying out on the United Nations mission in Lebanon," Sánchez added.

The Spanish prime minister's comments come as Israel has intensified air strikes on Lebanon to hit Hezbollah targets. Its war on Gaza, launched after last year's Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas militants, has so far killed 41,500 people, many of them civilians.

This week, Israel has also wounded Indonesian and Sri Lankan soldiers from the U.N. peace mission, known as UNIFIL, stationed in south Lebanon. On Thursday, Italy's Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said that "could constitute a war crime and represented a very serious violation of international humanitarian law."

Sánchez's calls to stop arms deliveries to Israel echo a similar plea made by French President Emmanuel Macron. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, however, pledged this week to send more weapons to the Israeli government.

Israel's largest weapons supplier by far is the United States, followed by Germany.

European countries have been increasingly divided on how to respond to the tense situation in the Middle East. Spain is among the nations deciding to recognize Palestinian statehood last spring.