Israel-Hamas War: Colombia and Chile have recalled their respective ambassadors to Israel over Tel Aviv's military campaign in Gaza that was launched in response to Palestinian militant outfit Hamas' October 7 onslaught on Israeli territory.

On Tuesday, Bolivia, another South American country, announced it had severed diplomatic ties with Israel over the latter's "aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive taking place in the Gaza Strip".

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Taking to social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Wednesday said, "I have decided to call our ambassador in Israel for consultation. If Israel does not stop the massacre of the Palestinian people, we cannot be there."

Meanwhile, the Chilean Foreign Ministry said its decision to recall the envoy to Israel for consultations was over the country's "violation of international humanitarian law" in the Gaza Strip.

(Smoke and flames billow after Israel struck a high-rise tower in Gaza during its ongoing air raids in the Palestinian territory. Pic credits: Reuters)

"Chile strongly condemns and observes with great concern that these military operations, which at this point in their development involve collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza, do not respect fundamental norms of International Law, as demonstrated by the more than eight thousand civilian victims, mostly women and childrent," the Ministry said in a statement.

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The three aforementioned South American countries have called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza, with Bolivia and Chile pushing for the passage of humanitarian aid into the zone and accusing Israel of violating international law.

Other Latin American countries, such as Mexico and Brazil, have also called for a ceasefire. "What we have now is the insanity of Israel's prime minister, who wants to wipe out the Gaza Strip," Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had said on Friday.

 

(With inputs from various agencies)