Palestinian state is best chance for security and peace, says Spanish PM

On visit to Israel, Pedro Sánchez offers sympathy for Hamas atrocities and reiterates call for two-state solution

• Israel-Hamas war – live updates

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said the Israeli response to Hamas’s “terrible” attacks last month cannot include “the deaths of innocents, including thousands of children”, and reiterated that the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel remains the best way to bring peace and security to the region.

Sánchez’s blunt plea came on the first day of a two-day visit to Israel, the West Bank and Egypt with the Belgian prime minister, Alexander de Croo.