A boy waves a Palestinian flag as demonstrators march during a protest in support of Palestinians and calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, in Barcelona, Spain. AP
The motion, supported by the governing Socialist party along with far-left and leftist pro-independence groups, calls for an end to all official relations with Israel "until respect for international law" and the "basic rights of the Palestinian people" are restored.
Barcelona will also suspend a 1998 friendship agreement with Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and it urged the trade fair organiser Fira de Barcelona not to host Israeli government pavilions or companies involved in the arms trade or profiting from Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.
A similar recommendation was made to the Port of Barcelona.
"The suffering and death in Gaza over the past year and a half, and recent attacks by the Israeli government, make any relationship unviable," Barcelona's Mayor Jaume Collboni said during the council session.
It is not the first time Barcelona has moved to suspend ties with Israel. In 2023, then-mayor Ada Colau took similar steps, which were later reversed when Collboni won local elections.
The decision by Spain's second-largest city -- a top tourist destination and home to one of the world's best-known football clubs -- adds to a growing list of voices condemning Israel's devastating war on Gaza.
Barcelona's move comes a year after Spain, Ireland and Norway officially recognised a Palestinian state in a coordinated decision slammed by Israel.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, one of the European Union’s most outspoken critics of Israel, has urged European countries to avoid double standards by condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine while failing to address Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza.
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