Spain's 6-2 win over Belgium secures place in Euro 2025 quarterfinals

THUN, Switzerland (AP) — World Cup champion Spain booked a spot in the quarterfinals of the Women’s European Championship after another statement victory, 6-2 over Belgium on Monday.

It was, surprisingly, the first time Spain won back-to-back matches at the Euros, after beating Portugal 5-0 in its opener.

With 11 goals in two matches, Spain and its star-packed squad is living up to its billing as the tournament favorite and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas had a stark warning for the other teams.

“The team is having an excellent performance. But almost all of us have room for improvement,” Putellas said in translated comments.

She scored two against Belgium and was named player of the match in a second straight game.

“I'm feeling very well mentally and I'm being quick," Putellas said. “I see things in advance and for me that’s the trigger that I feel good. And that means I can help others.”

The result combined with Italy's 1-1 draw against Portugal in the late match advanced Spain to the last eight.

Spain tops Group B with six points. Italy is second with four, three more than Portugal. The top two progress to the quarterfinals. On Friday, Italy faces Spain in their final group match and Portugal plays the eliminated Belgium.

But Belgium can take positives. The Red Flames went toe to toe with Spain before a flurry of late goals had them more concerned about goal difference — which could be a deciding factor.

“I’m really proud of my team because I know 100% that they had the belief that I was looking for,” Belgium coach Elísabet Gunnarsdóttir said.

“But, to be honest, I walked into the locker room and I really wanted to cry. Emotionally it was difficult because I really believed in what we were doing and I loved seeing my players give everything. We gave them a really good game for at least 60 minutes.”

Spain laid siege to the Belgium goal from the start. Mariona Caldentey played in a lovely pass from the edge of the area to Vicky López, who cushioned it on for Putellas to sweep into the far corner.

However, Spain’s 22nd-minute lead lasted barely two minutes before Justine Vanhaevermaet headed in Tessa Wullaert’s corner at the near post.

Spain captain Irene Paredes was playing her first match of the tournament after being suspended from the opener, and she made it 2-1 before the break when she headed in a corner.

Two-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmatí was brought on at halftime. She was hospitalized for viral meningitis before the tournament and played only eight minutes against Portugal.

Belgium leveled again through Hannah Eurlings shortly after the restart. It was initially ruled out for offside but awarded by the VAR.

Less than a minute later, Spain led for a third time when Putellas played in Esther González for the veteran forward to score her third goal of the tournament.

When a González effort was blocked, the ball was not cleared and Mariona Caldentey fired in Spain’s fourth.

Claudia Pina curled a sumptuous 20-yard effort into the top right corner — the best goal of the night — and there was still time for Putellas to net her second.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

Belgium's head coach Elisabet Gunnarsdottir applauds after the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Group B soccer match between Spain and Belgium at the Stockhorn Arena in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (Til Buergy/Keystone via AP)

Spain's Claudia Pina celebrates after scoring her side's fifth goal during the Euro 2025, group B, soccer match between Spain and Belgium at Arena Thun in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Spain's Alexia Putellas who was named player of the match celebrates after scoring her side's sixth goal during the Euro 2025, group B, soccer match between Spain and Belgium at Arena Thun in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Spain's Esther Gonzalez celebrates her side's third goal during the Euro 2025, group B, soccer match between Spain and Belgium at Arena Thun in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Spain head coach Montserrat Tome reacts during the Euro 2025, group B, soccer match between Spain and Belgium at Arena Thun in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Spain's Irene Paredes, left, and Spain's Esther Gonzalez celebrate their side's second goal of the game during the UEFA Women's EURO 2025 Group B soccer match between Spain and Belgium at the Stockhorn Arena in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (Til Buergy/Keystone via AP)

Spain's Alexia Putellas (11) celebrates after scoring her side's opening goal during the Euro 2025, group B, soccer match between Spain and Belgium at Arena Thun in Thun, Switzerland, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Over two dozen families from one of the few remaining Palestinian Bedouin villages in the central West Bank have packed up and fled their homes in recent days, saying harassment by Jewish settlers living in unauthorized outposts nearby has grown unbearable.

The village, Ras Ein el-Auja, was originally home to some 700 people from more than 100 families that have lived there for decades.

Twenty-six families already left on Thursday, scattering across the territory in search of safer ground, say rights groups. Several other families were packing up and leaving on Sunday.

“We have been suffering greatly from the settlers. Every day, they come on foot, or on tractors, or on horseback with their sheep into our homes. They enter people’s homes daily,” said Nayef Zayed, a resident, as neighbors took down sheep pens and tin structures.

Israel's military and the local settler governing body in the area did not respond to requests for comment.

Other residents pledged to stay put for the time being. That makes them some of the last Palestinians left in the area, said Sarit Michaeli, international director at B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group helping the residents.

She said that mounting settler violence has already emptied neighboring Palestinian hamlets in the dusty corridor of land stretching from Ramallah in the West to Jericho, along the Jordanian border, in the east.

The area is part of the 60% of the West Bank that has remained under full Israeli control under interim peace accords signed in the 1990s. Since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted in October 2023, over 2,000 Palestinians — at least 44 entire communities — have been expelled by settler violence in the area, B'Tselem says.

The turning point for the village came in December, when settlers put up an outpost about 50 meters (yards) from Palestinian homes on the northwestern flank of the village, said Michaeli and Sam Stein, an activist who has been living in the village for a month.

Settlers strolled easily through the village at night. Sheep and laundry went missing. International activists had to begin escorting children to school to keep them safe.

“The settlers attack us day and night, they have displaced us, they harass us in every way” said Eyad Isaac, another resident. “They intimidate the children and women.”

Michaeli said she’s witnessed settlers walk around the village at night, going into homes to film women and children and tampering with the village’s electricity.

The residents said they call the police frequently to ask for help — but it seldom arrives. Settlement expansion has been promoted by successive Israeli governments over nearly six decades. But Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government, which has placed settler leaders in senior positions, has made it a top priority.

That growth has been accompanied by a spike in settler violence, much of it carried out by residents of unauthorized outposts. These outposts often begin with small farms or shepherding that are used to seize land, say Palestinians and anti-settlement activists. United Nations officials warn the trend is changing the map of the West Bank, entrenching Israeli presence in the area.

Some 500,000 Israelis have settled in the West Bank since Israel captured the territory, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. Their presence is viewed by most of the international community as illegal and a major obstacle to peace. The Palestinians seek all three areas for a future state.

For now, displaced families of the village have dispersed between other villages near the city of Jericho and near Hebron further south, said residents. Some sold their sheep and are trying to move into the cities.

Others are just dismantling their structures without knowing where to go.

"Where will we go? There’s nowhere. We’re scattered,” said Zayed, the resident, “People’s situation is bad. Very bad.”

An Israeli settler herds his flock near his outpost beside the Palestinian village of Ras Ein al-Auja in the West Bank, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

A Palestinian resident of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank burns trash, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian children play in the West Bank village of Ras Ein al-Auja, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Palestinian residents of Ras Ein al-Auja village, West Bank pack up their belongings and prepare to leave their homes after deciding to flee mounting settler violence, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)