Chile and Colombia have recalled their ambassadors to Israel over the ongoing offensive in Gaza.
Israel has committed “unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip”, the Chilean Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israel’s military operations “entail collective punishment of the civilian Palestinian population in Gaza”, the ministry said, citing the increasing death toll comprised of mostly women and children.
Gaza authorities report more than 8,500 Palestinians killed since Israel launched airstrikes and a so far limited ground operation following a Hamas attack on 7 October, which had killed 1,400 people in Israel.
For all the latest headlines, follow our Google News channel online.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said the Latin American country “cannot remain there if Israel doesn’t stop the massacre of the Palestinian people”.
Bolivian Minister of the Presidency Maria Nela Prada had previously announced the country was sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, and that Bolivia had cut diplomatic ties with Israel.
“We demand an end to the attacks that have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and forced displacement of Palestinians,” the minister said.
Earlier, Craig Mokhiber had stepped down from his position as the director of the UNHCHR New York office, citing the UN being “powerless to stop” the “genocide unfolding before our eyes”.
The ongoing Israeli offensive is a “text book case of genocide”, the former director said. “The European, ethno-nationalist, settler colonial project in Palestine has entered its final phase, toward the expedited destruction of the last remnants of indigenous Palestinian life in Palestine.”
Mokhiber called for the “dismantling of the deeply racist, settler-colonial project and an end to apartheid across the land”.
Palestinian authorities have appealed to Egypt to activate roaming services on their mobile networks to allow people in Gaza to circumvent Israel’s hold on methods of communication, Al Jazeera reported. Mobile networks in the region are gradually being restored after the 36 hour complete blackout ended on Sunday.
Israel’s Tuesday attack on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza has leveled many buildings and killed dozens of civilians, with some local sources reporting up to 400 dead. Wednesday saw another airstrike against the camp.
Following the Palestinian health ministry’s warnings that generators in two key hospitals in Gaza were “hours away” from complete shut down, the director of the Al Shifa Hospital called on Gaza residents to bring any fuel they may have to the hospital. There are 42 newborns in incubators, and 57 dialysis machines in the hospital that will have to shut down in “only hours”.
Another hospital for cancer patients, run by Turkey’s foreign aid agency TİKA, has run out of fuel and is “completely out of service”, its director announced.
Eighty Palestinians and some 400 foreigners and Palestinian holders of dual citizenship have been referred to the Rafah crossing to receive treatment and shelter in Egypt.
