MADRID, September 29. /TASS/. Spain has vetoed the transit through its bases at Rota (Cadiz) and Moron de la Frontera (Sevilla) of US aircraft or vessels carrying weapons, munitions or military equipment for Israel, El Pais reported.

According to the Spanish newspaper, the veto will affect vessels directly headed for the Jewish state and those bound for Israel via an intermediate location. However, the kingdom does not inspect US cargo planes or vessels at its bases. While the Pentagon could withhold information about cargoes shipped on US vessels, sources told the newspaper that relations between the two allies are based on trust, which would otherwise be undermined.

Madrid has been quite strict on the Jewish state over the situation in the Gaza Strip. Earlier, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved a decree banning weapons supplies to Israel.

The situation in the Middle East escalated sharply following the incursion of armed Hamas supporters from the Gaza Strip into Israeli territory on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the killing of residents of border villages and the taking of more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel launched an operation in the enclave with the aim of destroying Hamas’s military and political structures and freeing all those abducted.