All posts by Luis Moreno

Moreno Luis - is a business and economics reporter based in Barcelona. Prior to joining the BNE24 he was economics editor of the BBC Spaine and worked as an economics and political reporter for Murcia Tuday.

Brussels questions the Government's figures to guarantee pensions: it expects less growth, productivity and employment

The EU disagrees considerably with the economic and demographic forecasts on which the Government has built the pension reform. European Commission experts believe that GDP, productivity or employment – fundamental factors to guarantee the future sustainability of the system – will grow less than what Social Security expects.

This has been expressed by Commission officials in the first preview of the Aging Report for 2024, the key EU document on public pensions released last Thursday.. In this report, Brussels reflects its macroeconomic and population growth expectations in the medium and long term in the Member States. Also included are spending and income forecasts for the pension system, an estimate that will be known in spring 2024, but which will be key to knowing if the Government has to introduce any adjustments to the reform.

In general terms, Brussels' calculations are more pessimistic than those presented exactly a month ago by Social Security. The department chaired by José Luis Escrivá believes that the Spanish economy will grow at a rate of 2% annually between 2023 and 2050, while Commission officials lower that expectation to 1.2%, a figure more in line with 1. 12% managed by the independent tax authority (Airef).

This lower economic growth would be sustained by an increase in worker productivity that is also lower than the Government foresees.. The Executive expects productivity to grow on average by 1.5% each year between 2023 and 2050. For its part, the Commission believes that the increase will be smaller, 1.22%. The Government is confident that the reforms and investment that the European recovery funds will bring will boost productivity and justify this greater increase.

But perhaps the biggest discrepancy between Social Security and Brussels is in employment expectations. While Brussels predicts that the number of employed people will reduce from 20.4 million in 2023 to 19.9 in 2050 (half a million fewer workers), the Executive believes that in 2050 there will be 22 million employees in the labor market (1, 8 million more than in 2023). The number of people with employment is one of the most important variables to guarantee the sustainability of the system. The more workers pay contributions, the smaller the imbalance between pension spending and the income with which they are paid.

Discrepancies about the population

The root of this disparity is in the population expectations that both organizations manage.. The Executive believes that the migratory flows that Spain will receive in the coming years will grow after an initial drop and will reach around 450,000 people annually by the middle of the century. The reasoning of Social Security is that the arrivals of migrants will adapt to the needs of the labor market, which will gradually lose national workers as the baby boom generation, the largest of all population groups, retires.

However, the European Commission does not see it that way and is betting that net arrivals of migrants (excluding departures) will remain around 200,000 throughout the projection horizon (2023-2070).. Consequently, the increase in inhabitants would be 2.2 million between 2023 and 2050 with the EU criteria and 4.6 million with Social Security criteria.

In principle, the disparity in the forecasts between the Government and the Commission should be transferred to spending and income expectations. If the economy grows less than the Executive foresees and there are fewer contributors, in principle the resources of the system would be less than expected. This would affect the sustainability of the system and could force the Government to introduce modifications to the reform to reduce this deficit.

In this section, the Commission's forecasts are particularly important because it depends on whether or not the automatic adjustment mechanism that the Government introduced in the pension reform is activated.. The rule establishes in its second additional provision that if pension spending compensated by income measures deviates from certain thresholds, the Airef will prepare a report to detail where expenses can be cut.. Afterwards, the document will be submitted to social dialogue and the Toledo Pact and, in the event that there is no agreement to reduce spending, social contributions would automatically rise again.

The point is that the reference to calculate whether Spain meets these thresholds is the forecasts of the Aging Report of the European Commission and not those of the Government.. The Executive has indicated on several occasions that with its forecasts the adjustment mechanism would not have to be activated. However, Airef – whose forecast is much more similar to that of Brussels – indicates that the closure clause will expire in 2025.. We will have to wait until spring 2024 to know the final figures from the Commission and have a clearer idea of where the system is at.

The Government contradicts the INE and estimates that hours worked have grown by 7% since 2019, five times more than what the EPA says

Social Security has joined the debate on the hours worked in Spain with a new statistic that contradicts what, until now, the INE data establishes.. The ministry led by José Luis Escrivá is based on the data it manages on social contributions to affirm that the effective hours worked in Spain (discounted by ERTE, sick leave and others) have grown by 7.3% since the fourth quarter of 2019.. On the other hand, the data provided by the INE through the GDP or the Active Population Survey (EPA) show that the hours worked in Spain have increased between 1.2 and 1.4% since the emergence of the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Social Security published a new statistic with its own calculation of hours worked based on social contributions. The series dates back to 2019, so it is impossible to compare with pre-pandemic data. However, the results obtained until the end of 2021 generally coincide with the GDP and EPA data until that date.. However, starting in 2022, a gap opens between the two series that has widened and has not yet been closed.

This similar trend until 2022 is one of the reasons that Social Security uses to defend that its data is robust. The other argument put forward is that its information coincides with the figures from the Quarterly Labor Cost Survey (ETCL) that is also published by the statistical institute.. In this case, the similarity is logical given that the ETCL obtains its information from Social Security contribution accounts.

Hours worked since the pandemic according to the INE and Social Security. SOCIAL SECURITY

The controversy is served and the issue is not trivial. Hours worked are a fundamental variable when estimating GDP. If the measurement made by the INE were not reflecting reality – as the Social Security data seem to suggest – it would be logical to think that real GDP is also higher than what the data indicates.. Some analysts still believe this, who believe that the upward revision undertaken by the INE in September fell short.

However, the issue is complex. Firstly, because the national accounting rules (the system for calculating GDP) that are used in all EU countries make it clear that the reference for measuring hours worked in GDP must be the EPA.. The rule makes it clear that the hours actually worked “are not derived from administrative or legal concepts”, as is the case of the new statistics, which are still an administrative record.. The Social Security data leaves out the self-employed, the rest of the special contribution regimes and workers in the underground economy.. Elements that the EPA, which is still a survey, does consider.

In part, this different composition could explain the divergence between the calculations of the INE and those of Social Security. Another hypothesis is the possibility that a part of the underground economy has emerged during the pandemic.. If this had happened like this, Social Security would be noticing an increase in “legal” hours worked (that is, paid contributions) of people who previously worked illegally, but that the INE was already detecting because it also measures the informal economy.

Social Security's decision to publish its own indicator on a variable that the INE already measures is not the first disagreement that has occurred between the Executive and the statistical office this term.. The INE, which is legally an autonomous body under the umbrella of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, has been questioned on several occasions by different members of the Executive.. Especially the GDP data and the CPI measurement. The pressure forced the resignation of the previous president of the INE, Juan Manuel Rodríguez Poo, who was replaced as head of the organization by Elena Manzaner at the proposal of the Economy.

The mystery of hours worked

Hours worked have become one of the great unknowns of the post-pandemic economic recovery. While the number of workers in Spain is already clearly above that recorded at the end of 2019, the hours worked barely exceed the pre-coronavirus threshold.

Experts have proposed some hypotheses that could explain why this trend has been broken, such as the aforementioned emergence of the underground economy or the increase in hours not worked due to medical leave. It is also possible that the EPA is not really capturing the increase in hours worked that is seen in Social Security records. But there is still no clear consensus on the reasons behind this change in trend.

Do Spaniards know about personal finances? Only 19% know what inflation, interest rates and risk diversification are

What knowledge do Spaniards have about personal finances? Do we know how to manage our savings? Do citizens know how inflation works or what compound interest is? These are some of the questions that the latest Financial Competencies Survey (ECF) published by the Bank of Spain has attempted to answer.

In general, the conclusion is clear: the vast majority of Spaniards lack basic skills and there is still a long way to go but we are improving. This has been reflected in the aforementioned study, which concludes that only 19% know basic concepts such as inflation, compound interest rate or risk diversification.

“We have improved but there is room for improvement at much higher levels,” said Ángel Gavilán, General Director of Economy and Statistics of the Bank of Spain, who specified that in this aspect “we are below the countries around us.” .

To determine the degree of knowledge of Spaniards about basic finances, the methodology used by the BE has been to ask the same three questions to respondents about inflation, compound interest rate or risk diversification.

The percentage of correct answers was highest for the question about inflation (65%), followed by diversification (52%) and compound interest (41%). The average percentage of correct answers is 53%, which is two points more than in 2016, the year in which this survey was carried out for the last time.

Gavilán has stated about this data that from the banking regulator “we try to make rigorous documents” but that “we have to make a significant effort when communicating it”, as they are doing on the agency's blog through “a more accessible language.”. However, he has opted to “reinforce spending on education and review the efficiency of that spending.”

The credit card, the most purchased product

The document, prepared with information obtained from nearly 8,000 surveys carried out between the end of 2021 and mid-2022 among citizens between 18 and 79 years old, has also gauged the knowledge and ownership of savings products by Spaniards.

In this sense, the study determines that the best known are pension plans, investment funds, stocks and cryptocurrencies, since between 84% and 88% of the population has heard of them.. On the other hand, less known are fixed income (72%) and savings accounts (60%).

This situation, recognized by the BE, has surely changed because since July 2022 interest rates have risen again after eleven years at zero or negative, which has sparked interest among the population in fixed income (deposits , State Bonds, Treasury Bills…) and savings accounts (those that remunerate your balance while the money is always available).

In terms of possession, the most purchased product was the credit card, the use of which increased from 2016 to 2021 by up to seven points (from 56 to 63%), while the savings vehicles that were contracted most frequently were savings accounts. savings, investment funds and stocks, all with a percentage of 7%. Cryptocurrencies deserve special mention, a booming financial product that 5% of the population has already acquired, especially young people between 18 and 35 years old (13%).

“The ownership of savings vehicles grows with the educational level and household income – 27% for citizens with less than a high school education and 58% for those with university education or similar -, it is higher for those who work and for those men”, explained the senior official of the Bank of Spain, who has specified that the largest holding in this type of products is in the age group between 55 and 64 years.

How do Spaniards save?

The report also includes what the behavior of savers was like in 2021, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, with restrictions such as perimeter confinement, the limitation of meetings in bars and restaurants or the curfew.

In this context, up to 70% of the population managed to save in those twelve months, nine points more than in 2016. The data indicates that the main way of saving consisted for 68% of Spaniards in accumulating money in their checking accounts. followed by cash savings (40%), options with which your money does not offer any profitability.

Finally, the survey addresses the vulnerability of households. It points out that 25% of the population confessed that in the last year their expenses had exceeded their income and that in more than half of these households (55%) the difference was financed with savings while 35% did so through the informal credit, which involves borrowing money from family and friends.

The Government extends aid to buy electric cars until July 2024 with 290 million still available

The Government has extended the aid program for the purchase of an electric car for seven more months, until July 31, 2024, for which 290 million euros are still available. They are part of the total allocation of the 1.2 billion MOVES III Program, which has already received 250,000 requests for help and which, without the extension agreed on Tuesday, would have expired on December 31.

What has foreseeably been the last Council of Ministers of the Government in office before the new investiture of Pedro Sánchez has authorized this Tuesday the extension at the request of the Ministry of Ecological Transition to extend the period of application of a plan with which it wants to incentivize the purchase of electric vehicles and charging points to reach the goal of 5.5 million cars of this type circulating on the roads by 2030, to replace the fleet of vehicles with combustion engines.

The MOVES III Program has resources from the EU Recovery Fund and was allocated 1.2 billion, of which 290 million are still available, for aid that can continue to be requested until the end of July.

So far, the Ministry makes a positive assessment of its acceptance, which has exceeded expectations. In one of its milestones related to the electric vehicle, it recalls that the National Recovery and Resilience Plan established the objective of reaching 238,000 requests for help for electric vehicles and charging points in 2023 and that “the objective has been met” because “there are more of 250,000 registered applications”, to which he hopes that more will join with the money that is still available in this plan.

Courteney Cox remembers Matthew Perry with a funny scene together in "Friends"

The American actress Courteney Cox used her social networks this Tuesday to pay tribute to Matthew Perry, her friend and partner in the series Friends, who died suddenly on October 28 and of whom she shared a scene of her characters.

“I am very grateful for the moments I had with you Matty and I miss you every day,” she said on her Instagram account along with a video of her and Perry playing Monica Geller and Chandler Bing.

The scene shows Ross (David Schwimmer), Monica's brother in the series, walking into Chandler's hotel room, as he is lying in bed.

As soon as the actor playing her friend leaves the room, Monica comes out from under the duvet to ask, “Do you think he knew I was here?”

This is the first chapter that linked its characters in a love relationship, which they kept secret for the following episodes.

“When you work with someone as closely as I did with Matthew, there are thousands of moments I wish I could share. For now, here is one of my favorites,” said Cox, who revealed that thanks to the public's reaction, what was going to be a “one-night stand in London” became “the beginning of their love story.”

The death of the actor

Perry was found dead in the jacuzzi of his home in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 54.. The causes of his death are still unknown.

Hours before Cox's publication, the also star of “Friends” Matt LeBlanc, Joey Tribbiani in fiction, had shared another emotional message on Instagram ensuring that the days he had spent with Perry were among “the best” of his life .

Over the course of a decade, from 1994 to 2004, Perry played Chandler Bing, an executive specializing in statistical analysis and data configuration who had a hard time finding a girlfriend, especially compared to Joey, his roommate. .

In 2022, Perry revealed in his book “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” that while he was part of “Friends” he faced his addiction to various drugs and alcohol.

The 'QAnon bison' who participated in the assault on the Capitol presents his candidacy for the United States Congress

Jacob Chansley, better known as the 'QAnon bison', was one of the most famous figures in the assault on the United States Capitol that occurred on January 6, 2021. Some facts for which he even ended up sentenced to three years in prison, but he managed to reduce his sentence to two by citing mental health problems.

Now, almost three years later, the man known for his buffalo clothing has declared that he wants to run in the next Congressional elections. He himself announced it through a statement in which he made official his desire to be elected through the Liberal Party of the state of Arizona.

Candidacy presented by Jacob Chansley. Arizona State

The current position for this State corresponds to Debbie Lesko, member of the United States House of Representatives since 2018. Lesko already announced that he would not run for re-election when his term ends in January 2025, so Chansley has presented his intention to be nominated to be his successor.

Also known as the 'bison-shaman', his face was widely known around the world for the assault on the Capitol. Chansley pleaded guilty to civil disorder and violent entry into the premises, for which he was sentenced to 41 months in prison that was reduced for mental problems.

Israel seizes several government headquarters in the Gaza Strip and claims that Hamas "no longer controls the city"

Every hour that the siege on Gaza City passes, it tightens more. Israel's ground offensive advances and clashes between soldiers and members of the Islamist organization Hamas occur street by street. This Tuesday the Israeli Army reported the capture of multiple military and government buildings; including “the headquarters of the Hamas legislative assembly and government,” from where the soldiers themselves have shared photographs posing with Israeli flags. The videos released by the troops show a city destroyed by bombing where most services are at minimum levels.. The UN warned this Tuesday of the critical humanitarian situation: there is only one hospital left in operation in the entire north of the Strip.

“The combined combat forces of the Seventh Brigade controlled the headquarters of the Hamas legislative assembly and government, the police headquarters and an engineering college used for the production and development of weapons,” the military spokesperson confirmed.. For days now, the Army has been sharing images that supposedly show how the buildings taken have been used as training, control, detention and interrogation centers. In addition, they have also confirmed that the Shati refugee camp is under “operational control” of Israel, where they have managed to locate 160 tunnels and some 2,800 infrastructures.

Another Israeli brigade took over the governor's residence this Tuesday, which would have been identified “as a facility used by the terrorist organization Hamas.”. The building housed both Hamas' military and police offices as well as the organization's military intelligence offices, headquarters and several outposts, according to Tel Aviv.. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said that Hamas “no longer controls Gaza City”. “There is no Hamas force capable of stopping the Israel Defense Forces. “The IDF is advancing on all fronts,” he said.

Israel denounces that hospital centers are being used to house “Hamas terrorists”, which would justify, they argue, their being attacked. The spokesman for the Israeli Army, Daniel Hagari, has assured from the same Rantisi hospital that he has found “evidence that the terrorists returned from the massacre of October 7 to this hospital.”. “In the basement, we found a Hamas command center, with suicide bomb vests, grenades, AK-47 assault rifles, explosive devices, anti-tank rocket launchers and other weapons, computers and money. “We also found signs indicating that Hamas held hostages there,” he added.

The Israeli army shows the hospital where it claims Hamas used as a command center.
The Israeli army shows the hospital where it claims Hamas used as a command center.

At the moment Hamas denies the use of these facilities and international organizations ask that the hospitals not be bombed.. Doctors Without Borders has reported shots fired this Tuesday “against one of the three facilities located near the Al Shifa hospital”, which houses medical personnel and their families, including 65 children.. The staff of the Al Shifa hospital, the largest in Gaza, began digging a mass grave inside the facilities this Tuesday to bury those who die, since the siege does not allow them to leave the center.. In addition, the Palestinian Red Crescent has warned that the medical team at Al Quds hospital, also under siege, remains “trapped” in the facilities.

At this time, only the Al Ahli hospital operates in the entire north of the Strip, where it is estimated that there are half a thousand patients. “All hospitals in Gaza City and the northern Strip are out of service due to lack of electricity, medical supplies, oxygen, food and water, in addition to shelling and clashes in the surrounding area,” he said. affirmed the UN Humanitarian Aid Coordination Office.

A second group of Spaniards leaves Gaza

Hundreds of thousands of Gazans are in the south of the Strip after having fled the north. Although the attacks in the south are minor, Israeli bombings also occur there every day. From this region, Palestinians with dual nationality try to leave through the Rafah crossing. This Tuesday a second group of 74 Hispanic-Palestinians was able to enter Egypt, joining the 40 who left the Strip on Monday. A total of about 200 people are expected to leave, including their families.

One of the Spanish women who managed to enter Egypt this Monday was Salsabeel Hamdan, who acknowledged to EFE that “the exit has been very difficult.”. “It was complicated for the Spanish consulate and for us. In fact, some families could not even reach Rafah,” said this 28-year-old girl.. Salsabeel's life has taken a turn and now he will have to remake it in Spain. “We will go to my brothers' house in Valencia. Let's hope that the war is over and that we can make a new life, even if it is here or there, and that way we could finish our studies,” he said.

The Spanish-Palestinians who left the previous day are already in Cairo, where they will wait for the rest to arrive to fly to Spanish territory.. At the moment the date on which they will be able to do so is unknown.. Meanwhile, the war in Gaza continues to kill dozens of people every day. Israel's fighting and bombing in response to the Hamas attack on October 7 – which left 1,400 dead and more than 240 hostages – has killed more than 11,300 people and left 29,200 injured, according to figures from the Gaza Government. , in the hands of Hamas.

They search in Australia for a radio host who disappeared in a river full of crocodiles

The Australian Police are searching this Tuesday for a Sydney radio host who disappeared two days ago during a solo excursion to go fishing in a remote river whose waters are infected with crocodiles.

Dozens of troops are participating in the search operation to search the Oliver River with vehicles, boats and helicopters, in the area on the remote Cape York Peninsula and at the northern tip of the state of Queensland, authorities point out.

The authorities found the vehicle of the missing man, about 60 years old and identified as Roman Butchaski, former announcer for the Sydney radio station 2GB and known as Butch, near the river.

Queensland Police Sergeant Duane Amos told reporters the region is a well-known crocodile habitat, but added Butchaski is familiar with the area.

The rivers and estuaries of the tropical areas of northern Australia are usually inhabited by saltwater crocodiles, larger and more ferocious than other species, and although attacks by these reptiles against humans are not frequent, at least one has been recorded since 2021. dozen of them.

Brussels does not see "a priori" scope to act because the amnesty saves European funds and leaves out lawfare

The European Commission does not see any collision between the amnesty law proposal and the community principles and rules, as the financial interests of the EU are saved and 'lawfare' cases are excluded, which means it understands that it is a domestic matter. whose evaluation will be up to the competent national authorities, according to the first impressions of their services, although the text is still under study.

This is reported by community sources who indicate that the main concerns of the Community Executive regarding the future amnesty law were its impact on the financial interests of the EU and on the rule of law, specifically on the principle of separation of powers due to the possibility of that would cover the so-called cases of 'lawfare' or 'judicial war'.

But they explain that, after that first look at the text registered last Monday in the Congress of Deputies by the PSOE, those two concerns have dissipated because both issues are outside the bill.. In any case, they clarify, the text is now being analyzed in depth by legal services before offering a formal opinion. Thus, article 2 of the text details the cases that are excluded from the future amnesty, including among them “crimes that affect the financial interests of the European Union.”

Regarding 'lawfare', although it does not expressly mention it, it limits the amnestied acts to those “directly or indirectly linked to the so-called independence process”, pointing out crimes of usurpation of public functions, embezzlement, disobedience, public disorders or prevarication, which leaves were others such as money laundering, criminal organization or illicit association, document falsification or against the Public Treasury.

If there had been any reference to 'lawfare' in the bill, the European Commission would have had to act, say the aforementioned sources.. But since it is only included in an agreement between political parties, the one signed by the PSOE and Junts last Thursday, it is outside the reach of Brussels.

In this sense, they point out that the Community Executive cannot become a “political actor” in the Member States.. A different thing, they warn, is that this political agreement that includes the 'lawfare' has a legislative development.

However, for Brussels, the proposed law, in its current state, is a national matter whose control will correspond to the competent authorities, starting with Parliament, which must process and approve it, and ending with the Constitutional Court (TC), which will have the last word on its legality.

There are no parallels

Along the same lines, the sources consulted point out that the political motivations for approving an amnesty law, whether those expressed in the statement of reasons or the support of the pro-independence forces for the investiture of Pedro Sánchez as president of the Government, are not relevant. for the European Commission because it is the national bodies that must evaluate them.

Furthermore, they rule out any parallels with the case of Romania, when Brussels warned that it would act if an amnesty law drafted by the ruling Social Democratic Party was approved to pardon its then leader, Liviu Dragnea, who had been sentenced to three and a half years. in prison for abuse of power, although he had accumulated another sentence for electoral fraud.

The sources emphasize that in the Romanian case it was an amnesty law designed to directly benefit the leader of the ruling party that promoted it, a situation that does not occur in the Spanish scenario.. Added to this is that the amnesty law never saw the light of day.

In any case, they emphasize that to activate article 7 of the EU Treaty, which allows the suspension of rights as a Member State, there must be a systematic failure to comply with the principles and rules of the EU, so a single violation would not be enough to put it into motion, no matter how serious it was.

Rafah opens to let the first group of Spaniards leave Gaza: 33 Spanish-Palestinians and 7 family members are already waiting to return to Spain

It has taken more than five weeks, but finally the Spaniards in Gaza are now in safe territory. More than 40 people left this Monday in the first group of Spanish-Palestinians who had been waiting for weeks on the border with Egypt. Although they were expected to leave through the Rafah crossing in early November, the logistics of the evacuations and the obstacles of the countries involved had delayed a complex operation that seems closer to completion.

“The first Spanish-Palestinians have crossed the double checkpoint. One Palestinian and then one Egyptian,” said the acting Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, this Monday.. Of the 40 who left this Monday, there are “33 Hispanic-Palestinians and 7 family members” and priority has been given to “families with very young children and elderly people in vulnerable situations,” the minister acknowledged.. Likewise, Albares has confirmed that he has already received authorization from Israel for another contingent to leave this Tuesday with 80 more people.. In total, between Spaniards and family members, close to 200 people are expected to leave in the coming days.

One of those who has already left is Amelia Julia Sayans, a 70-year-old Spanish woman married to a Gazan.. “We were very bad, there was no gas, water or food, the food that is left is getting worse” and there are “bombings everywhere,” he explained to EFE.. Although Sayans signed up to cross with her children, she has had to cross alone, who remain sheltered in the apartment of a family that welcomed them in Khan Yunis, a town in the south of Gaza.. Her husband stayed in the north, whom she acknowledges that she “could not convince” and that he preferred to “stay and wait to pick up what was in the rubble” of their house in the north.

Kamal Ukasha, a fifty-year-old Palestinian ophthalmologist with Spanish citizenship, also managed to leave this Monday, along with his wife and six children. “We will look for a place to work in Spain,” he acknowledged to the EFE correspondent. “It had a private medical center and it was completely destroyed at the beginning of the war,” said Ukasha, who lived in a town north of the Strip.. “On the way from Jabalia to Gaza City, in general you see everything destroyed, and in Gaza City the same,” he added.

Regarding the complexity of the operation, Albares has acknowledged that throughout these weeks he has been “in contact” with his counterparts from Israel and Egypt.. “We have already spoken with the Ministry of Defense so that their planes come at the right time to transport these Spanish-Palestinians to Spain,” said the acting minister.. It was precisely the acting Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, who last week recognized that the operation was not simple. Robles then commented that the delay was due to a problem with the conflict situation itself, “since bombings had occurred and priority was being given to the wounded.”. “They are making a kind of appeal that can be in alphabetical order of countries,” said the minister.

As the Spaniards leave Gaza, they will be transferred by bus to Cairo along with staff from the Spanish Embassy.. From the Egyptian capital it is expected that an Air Force plane will take them to Spain. At the moment the exact day on which they will land in Spanish territory is unknown.

The humanitarian situation is critical

As Palestinians with dual nationality try to escape, more than 2 million remain trapped in Gaza. Israel's offensive, especially in the north of the enclave, continues to advance street by street and the bombings continue to number in the hundreds every day. And with it, the worsening of the humanitarian situation denounced by United Nations agencies and NGOs.

This Monday, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) confirmed that its medical team at the largest hospital in the Strip, Al Shifa, is willing to abandon it “if there are guarantees that the patients will be evacuated first.” An MSF surgeon who works at the hospital has indicated that in front of the main door there are “dead bodies and wounded people” and has reported that there are sniper attacks against “ambulances and patients who are trying to flee.” “We don't have electricity. There is no water in the hospital. There's no food. “People who depend on respirators will die within hours if they remain turned off,” he said. According to the spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry, controlled by Hamas, at least 32 people have died due to a lack of power in the last three days.. Including three premature babies.

For its part, Israel insists that hospital centers are being used as a hiding place for members of the Islamist organization Hamas. The Israeli Army reported this Monday that its troops in Gaza City were attacked by “a terrorist squad hiding among a group of civilians at the entrance to a hospital,” so they responded by killing 21 Palestinians. The Jewish State has asked Gazan citizens to leave the north of the enclave towards the south. Which has not stopped the bombing from continuing.. This Monday at least 40 people were killed in an Israeli attack on the southern town of Bani Suhaila. And in the north, in the Jabalia refugee camp, at least 30 people have been killed in another bombing, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA.

Since Hamas attacked Israeli soil on October 7, leaving more than 1,400 dead and 240 kidnapped, Tel Aviv's bombings of Gaza have been constant.. Five weeks after the start of the conflict, more than 11,200 people have been killed and 29,000 injured as a result of these attacks, according to Hamas.