Spanish personnel have been expelled from a military centre in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has said, due to the country’s ongoing criticism of its military operations.

Israel’s prime minister said:

“Spain has slandered our heroes, the soldiers of the IDF, the soldiers of the most moral army in the world. 

“Therefore I have instructed to expel Spain’s representatives from the coordination centre in Kiryat Gat, after Spain has chosen time and again to stand against Israel.”

Netanyahu said Israel would not allow any country “to wage a political war against us without paying an immediate price for it.”

Spain, one of the most vocal critics of the US-Israeli strikes in the Middle East, has closed its airspace to any military aircraft involved in the war and labelled the conflict reckless and illegal.

Confirming the expulsion, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar said Spain had acted against Israel “by all possible means”.

The military centre, located in central Israel, was formed to oversee the ceasefire agreed in Gaza last October.

Spain had a permanent presence at the headquarters, The Times of Israel reported.