Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Thursday that Israel’s ambassador to Spain will return to his post in Madrid, a month after he was recalled following remarks by the Spanish prime minister that Israel deemed “scandalous”, AFP reported.

Rodika Radian-Gordon was recalled in November by then-Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen after what he called “outrageous remarks” made by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

The latter said on Spanish public television that he had “serious doubts” about the legality of Israel’s actions in the besieged Gaza Strip, given the “increasing number of people dying, especially boys and girls.”

The head of Israeli diplomacy at the time, Eli Cohen, called these statements scandalous.

On Thursday, his successor, Israel Katz, said he had decided to fire his ambassador in Madrid. He stated that the goal was to gain support for “the right of the State of Israel to protect its citizens from the terrorist organization Hamas and to exert international pressure for the release of the hostages.”

Diplomatic tensions between Israel and Spain have risen sharply in recent weeks. Spain is one of the most critical voices in the European Union regarding Israel.

Israel also recalled its ambassadors from Turkey and South Africa after their leaders’ comments on the war in Gaza.

About 1,140 people, most of them civilians, were killed in an attack by Palestinian Hamas commandos in Israel on October 7, according to AFP data based on the latest official Israeli figures.

According to the latest figures from Hamas on Thursday, 22,438 people, mostly women, teenagers and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of hostilities.