Colombian President Gustavo Petro has slammed Israel for committing crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip, saying “genocides are never supported.”
“If we have to suspend foreign relations with Israel, we will suspend them. We do not support genocides,” Petro said on Sunday.
“The president of Colombia will not be insulted,” he stressed after Israel decided to cut arms exports to Colombia over “hostile and anti-Semitic statements” by Petro.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat on Sunday said Colombia’s ambassador Margarita Manjarrez was also summoned over Petro’s statements in which he likened Israelis to “Nazis” due to their brutal aggression and complete siege of Gaza.
Since the start of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, Petro has voiced his solidarity with the Palestinians in numerous comments on X, formerly Twitter.
Petro has said Israel must cease its systematic attacks on civilians and genocide, urging the European Union to abide by international law and condemn Israeli crimes.
That came as the EU has expressed its support for Israel in its aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, sparking widespread criticism.
Petro also stressed that the basic needs of life must be protected in Gaza, vowing to send humanitarian aid to the besieged strip.
Venezuela to send humanitarian aid to Gaza
In a post published on X on Sunday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro also condemned the “indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population by Israel, causing thousands of deaths and injuries.”
He said the Israeli aggression crossed “the line of respect for international humanitarian law.”
Maduro also noted that he told Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during a phone call on Sunday that Caracas would send more than 30 tones of humanitarian aid in the next few days.
According to his remarks, the two presidents agreed on the need for the establishment of a humanitarian aid corridor to help Gazans.
On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Storm deep into the territories occupied by the Israeli regime in reaction to the recurring desecration of the al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied al-Quds as well as intensified Israeli atrocities against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel responded with intensive air strikes on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip, killing more than 2,700 Palestinians in Gaza and wounding some 10,000 others, according to the territory’s health ministry.
The regime has also intensified the siege of Gaza, leaving the city, home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians, without water, electricity, fuel, and internet.
