The Green Party has backed calls for Malta to forbid ships carrying weapons to Israel from entering its territorial waters.

ADPD chairperson Sandra Gauci said Malta should also impose sanctions against Israel, as it had done when Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022.

The Green Party made those calls during a press conference held on Saturday morning in which it condemned violence in the Middle East and accused Israel of carrying out a “genocide” on the Palestinian people in Gaza.

Gauci was accompanied by Samuel Vella, the party’s deputy secretary general and chairperson of its youth branch.

Vella called on the Maltese government to condemn Israel’s attacks on Lebanon and to formally recognise Palestine as a sovereign state.

Gauci echoed those calls to recognise Palestinian statehood, emphasising the right of every nation to self-determination.

Malta’s government, she said, should “walk the talk” and push the EU to stop selling weapons to Israel while launching sanctions against products manufactured in illegally occupied land in the West Bank.

ADPD’s calls for Malta to impose sanctions on Israel and block any ships carrying Israel-bound armaments echoes calls made by activist group Ġustizzja għall-Palestina. The group has been pushing for conflict in the Middle East to be the subject of a formal parliamentary debate.