"For justice, for coherence and for peace, Spain will recognize the existence of the Palestinian State on May 28th", said the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, in a statement in the national parliament last Wednesday in which he confirmed that this step will be taken through a resolution approved by the Council of Ministers.

The Prime Ministers of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, and Ireland, Simon Harris, also said on that same Wednesday that Oslo and Dublin would formally recognize Palestine on May 28th.

Slovenia and Malta said they are considering taking this step soon and joining Spain, Ireland and Norway.

The Israeli Government immediately condemned the announcements by Spain, Ireland and Norway, arguing that these countries are sending the message to the Palestinians that "terrorism pays off", in a reference to the Islamist group Hamas. Later, and after a formal protest with the ambassadors of the three countries, Tel Aviv guaranteed that there would be "even more serious consequences".

Last Friday, Israel announced that it will prevent the provision of services to Palestinians by the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem, which in practice functions as an embassy for residents in the West Bank, providing consular services and assuming diplomatic relations with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). This consulate also houses an office of the Spanish Cooperation Agency, with projects in the Palestinian territories.

On the eve of the formalization of the recognition, the Israeli Foreign Ministry ordered that the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem close its services to Palestinians as of June 1st.

The Spanish Prime Minister stressed last Wednesday that the Government he leads will comply today with two resolutions of the Spanish parliament itself that urged the executive to formally recognize Palestine as a State.

On the same occasion, Sánchez insisted that this is a decision "for peace" because only the possibility of the two States (Israel and Palestine) allows a sustainable peace solution for the Middle East and it is necessary that the two parties sit down to negotiate, when that time comes, "on equal terms".

The leader of the Spanish Government said that the "partner for peace" on the Palestinian side is the Palestinian Authority and that "the terrorist group Hamas", which controls the territory of the Gaza Strip, "obviously has to disappear".

More than 140 countries already recognize Palestine as a State, some of them members of the European Union (EU), such as Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, which took the step in 1988, before joining the European bloc.

Sweden did the same in 2014, fulfilling an electoral promise by the Social Democrats then in power.

Norway (which is not part of the EU), Spain and Ireland will join these countries at a time when Israel has been carrying out a military offensive in the Gaza Strip since October.

The conflict was triggered by the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on Israeli soil on October 7th, 2023, which caused about 1,200 deaths and two hundred hostages, according to the Israeli authorities.

Since then, Israel has launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has caused more than 36,000 deaths and a serious humanitarian crisis, according to Hamas, which has governed the Palestinian enclave since 2007.

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