Spain has asked European countries to suspend arms shipments to Israel, as international condemnation grows over its conduct in Gaza.

At a meeting of the "Madrid Group" hosted by the Spanish government, the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares called for an immediate suspension of Europe's cooperation deal with Israel and an embargo on arms shipments.

"We must all agree on a joint arms embargo," said Albares prior to the conference. "The last thing the Middle East needs right now is weapons."

Among those at the meeting were representatives from Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco and Brazil, along with several intergovernmental organizations.

However, only a fraction of the nations represented at the Madrid Group meeting actually supply Israel with armaments.

Israel is also one of the world's top exporters of armaments, so it has a powerful internal supply of weaponry as well.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in March reported that Israel is the 15th biggest importer of arms globally, despite it being actively involved in conflict, accounting for less than 2% of global imports.

Its imports have also dropped by around 2.3% in the last five years, compared to the preceding period.

Crucially, three nations account for almost all of Israel's weapons supply: the United States, Germany and Italy.

By far, the US is the biggest arms supplier to Israel, both since the October 7, 2023 attacks and also historically.

Though........

© Deutsche Welle