"Middle East needs peace," Spain denies entry to Indian ship carrying arms to Israel

Spain has denied an Indian cargo ship permission to dock at its port, which carried arms to Israel, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, Albares said, “This is the first time we have done this because it is the first time we have detected a ship carrying a shipment of arms to Israel that wants to call at a Spanish port."

"This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The foreign ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason: the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace,” he shared.

While the foreign minister did not share specific details about the cargo ship, Spain’s Transport Minister Óscar Puente revealed that the ship, named "Marianne Dinaca," had requested to dock at the southeastern port of Cartagena on May 21.

Spanish newspaper, El País reported that the cargo ship departed from Chennai and was carrying “27 tonnes of explosive material” destined for the port of Haifa in Israel.

This decision comes amid an ongoing dispute between the ruling Socialist Party and left-wing political groups, who have demanded that the Spanish Prime Minister refuse entry to another ship, the “Borkum,” which is scheduled to dock at Cartagena on Friday.

Pro-Palestinian groups have accused the Borkum was transporting weapons to Israel, but the government maintained that the ship headed to the Czech Republic.

Spain ceased selling arms to Israel following its grave human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories after October 7.

The country has been vocal against Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip and is making efforts to rally other European nations to recognise Palestine as a state.