The Colombian government confirmed that it will install an embassy in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, in the West Bank, almost a month after breaking diplomatic relations with Israel due to the war in the Gaza Strip.
AFP.
“President (Gustavo) Petro has given the instruction that we install the Colombian embassy in Ramallah. That is the next step we are going to take,” Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo told the press, without providing more details.
Petro had already announced in October the intention to open a legation in that Palestinian territory.
The leftist president broke diplomatic relations on May 1 with Israel, whose government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has called “genocidal.” He also stopped the purchase of weapons manufactured in that country.
On May 10, he asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant against Netanyahu.
“We are sure that more and more countries will recognize Palestine. And this is nothing against the people of Israel,” said the Colombian foreign minister.
The confirmation of the establishment of the Bogotá embassy takes place on the same day that Spain, Ireland and Norway announced that they will recognize a Palestinian state at the end of the month, a step that Israel described as a “reward to terrorism.”
The conflict in Gaza erupted on October 7, 2023 when commandos from the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas killed 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP count based on official statistics.
Israel’s military response has caused 35,709 deaths in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the Hamas-controlled territory’s Ministry of Health.
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