The head of state welcomed Housni Abdel Wahed to the royal palace in Madrid for the traditional ceremony for newly appointed foreign ambassadors to Spain, according to images published by the royal palace on social network X.

Wahed had been the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Madrid since 2022 and he enjoyed a similar status to that of an ambassador but he officially changed rank after Spain along with Ireland and Norway formally recognized a Palestinian state comprising the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The three countries said at the time they hoped their decision would spur other European countries to follow suit and accelerate efforts towards securing a ceasefire in Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.

Israel has condemned the decision, saying it bolsters Hamas, the militant Islamist group that led the Al-Aqsa Flood Opaeration on October 7 .

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, one of the staunchest critics in Europe of Israel's Gaza offensive, announced earlier this month that a bilateral summit between Spain and Palestine would be held before the end of the year.

Israel's brutal military offensive on the Gaza Strip since October has so far killed at least 41,226 people, most of them women and children, with another 95,413 people wounded, according to the Palestinian health ministry.

* This story was edited by Ahram Online.