"We demand an immediate ceasefire on the part of Israel in Gaza and strict compliance with international humanitarian law, which today is clearly not respected," he said during a debate in parliament ahead of a vote in confidence on Thursday in which he is poised to be re-appointed for another term.

"Let there be no doubt, we stand with Israel in its response to the offensive that this country suffered in October," the Socialist premier added before calling for the "immediate release" of the captives taken by Hamas.

"But with the same clarity we reject the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank," he said.

Spain has maintained that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas after its offensive on southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking over 200 captives.

But like the United States and other allies, it has expressed increasing concern over the mounting death toll in the battered Gaza Strip, where the Palestinian health ministry says over 11,320 people, mostly civilians, including 4,630 children and 3,130 women. have been killed since the war started.

Sanchez is relying on the votes of the far-left, which repeatedly pushed him to adopt a harder line against Israel's aggression on Gaza, in order to be reappointed for another term following an inconclusive snap general election in July.

Shortly after he spoke the leader of far-left party Podemos, acting social rights minister Ione Belarra, reiterated on social media her call for Spain to break diplomatic ties with Israel and impose economic sanctions on the country.

"We need much more than words in an investiture debate to halt the planned genocide that Israel is carrying out in Palestine," she wrote on X, formerly called Twitter.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online.