MADRID (Reuters) – Two Spaniards have been “affected” by the Hamas assault on Israel, Spain’s acting foreign minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Monday.
Albares did not elaborate on the status of the Spaniards or give any further details.
“We have information about two Spaniards who have been affected and we are in constant contact with their families. For security reasons and out of respect for their families, I will not give any more details,” he told state broadcaster TVE.
Fighters from the Islamist group Hamas killed 700 Israelis and abducted dozens in Saturday’s attacks, which were the deadliest such incursion since the Yom Kippur war 50 years ago, prompting Israel to retaliate by pounding the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.
Albares said Hamas actions qualified as “terrorism”.
“Without a doubt, we are talking about terrorism and terrorist actions,” he previously said in an interview with Spanish radio Onda Cero.
He said the government would help Spanish nationals who are in Israel and wish to return to Spain.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro, editing by Aislinn Laing and Ed Osmond)
