Colombia cuts diplomatic ties with Israel over 'genocidal' Gaza war

President Gustavo Petro has said that Colombia will cut all diplomatic ties with Israel, whose leader he described as "genocidal" in its war in Gaza.

"Tomorrow (Thursday) diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be severed... for having a genocidal president," Petro told a May Day rally in Bogota on Wednesday — referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Petro has been a harsh critic of Tel Aviv's war on Gaza following an unprecedented Hamas raid on southern Israeli military installations and settlements on October 7.

Petro told thousands of supporters that the world cannot accept "genocide, the extermination of an entire people."

"If Palestine dies, humanity dies," he said to loud applause from the crowd, some of whom flew pro-Palestinian banners.

Israel calls Petro 'anti-Semitic'

Israel as usually responded by describing Petro as "anti-Semitic and hateful" and saying his stance amounted to handing a reward to Hamas.

In October, days after the start of the war, Israel announced it was "halting security exports" to Colombia after Petro accused Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant of using language about the people of Gaza similar to what the "Nazis said of the Jews."

Israel at the time accused Petro of "expressing support for the atrocities committed by Hamas, fueling anti-Semitism," and summoned Colombia's ambassador.

Bogota subsequently demanded that Israel's envoy leave the South American country.

Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, has also asserted that "democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to reestablish itself in international politics."

In February, he suspended Israeli weapons purchases after dozens of people died in a scramble for food aid in the war-torn Palestinian territory — an event he said was "called genocide and recalls the Holocaust."

'Cannot be accomplice of murderers'

Colombia's armed forces, engaged in a decades-long conflict with leftist guerrillas, rightwing paramilitaries and drug cartels, use Israeli-made weapons and aircraft.

The country has a history of strong diplomatic and military relations with Israel and the United States.

Petro had come out in support of Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who also drew the ire of Israel by saying its Gaza campaign "isn't a war, it's a genocide." The president's popularity has been on the rise over the past few months.

Colombia and Brazil supported South Africa's complaint against Israel to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, alleging the Gaza assault amounted to a breach of the Genocide Convention.

Colombian May Day demonstrator Sandra Gutierrez, a 38-year-old teacher, welcomed her president's announcement on Wednesday.

"One cannot be an accomplice of the murderers," she told the AFP news agency on the Plaza Bolivar square.