MADRID, Sept 19, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on 
Thursday called for a de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, as 
Lebanon said 37 people had now been killed by booby-trapped hand-held 
devices.

"Today the risk of escalation is once more increasing in a dangerous way" in 
Lebanon, said Sanchez, at a news conference with visiting Palestinian 
president Mahmud Abbas.

"So we must again make a fresh appeal for restraint, for a de-escalation and 
for peaceful coexistence between countries, in the name of peace," he added.

Sanchez was speaking to journalists after more than an hour's talks with 
Abbas.

Neither Sanchez nor Abbas referred directly to the explosions of electronic 
devices that rocked Lebanon on Tuesday and Wednesday in the latest escalation 
of tensions.

Israel has not yet commented on the unprecedented wave of attacks in which 
Hezbollah operatives' pagers and walkie-talkies exploded in supermarkets, on 
streets and at funerals.

But Lebanon's Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday called on the United 
Nations to intervene in what he called Israel's "technological war" against 
it.

Lebanon's Health Minister Firass Abiad said Thursday 37 people had been 
killed and more than 3,500 wounded in the explosions of the devices over the 
last two days.

- Palestinian state recognition -Even before that stunning act of apparent 
sabotage, tensions were running high in the Middle East, in large part due to 
the war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza 
Strip.

Since the war began, Sanchez has positioned himself as a champion of the 
Palestinian cause within the European Union.

His socialist government has increasingly taken highly critical positions 
towards Israel's conduct of its campaign against Hamas, rival to Abbas's own 
Fatah party.

"The international community and Europe cannot remain impassive in the face 
of the suffering of thousands of innocents, largely women and children," he 
added.

Israel's military offensive has killed at least 41,272 people in Gaza, most 
of them civilians, according to data provided by the Hamas-run territory's 
health ministry. The UN has acknowledged these figures as reliable.

Hamas's October 7 attack which sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 
1,205 people, mostly civilians, on the Israeli side, according to an AFP 
tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in 
captivity.

Urging a two-state solution, long a cornerstone of international attempts to 
end the decades-long conflict, Sanchez said that a Palestinian nation "living 
side by side with the state of Israel" was the only way to "bring stability 
to the region".

He pointed out that this is Abbas's first visit to Spain since Madrid took 
the decision to recognise the state of Palestine on May 28. Ireland and 
Norway took the same decision in May.

"Why is this a good thing? Because Palestine exists and has the right to have 
its own state," the premier added.

While Hamas controls the Gaza Strip, the Fatah party chaired by Abbas 
controls the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank.

Abbas expressed his thanks for Sanchez's support and Spain's recognition, 
urging "all states that have not yet recognised us to do so".