Three Latin American Countries Take Diplomatic Measures Against Israel Amid Hamas War

Three Latin American countries announced diplomatic measures against Israel, as the war with Hamas approaches its fourth week.

Concretely, Bolivia severed its diplomatic ties with the country and Chile and Colombia recalled their respective ambassadors for consultations.

Bolivian Deputy Foreign Minister Freddy Mamani said the decision was a "repudiation and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate military offensive from Israel taking place at the Gaza Strip," which he labeled a "threat to international peace and security."

"Bolivia decided to sever diplomatic ties with Israel. We will communicate this officially through established diplomatic channels between both countries," Mamani added in a press conference.

The landlocked country has often been critical of Israel. It had already taken a similar decision in 2009 under Evo Morales following a series of clashes with Hamas in Gaza. Relations had only resumed in 2019 during the presidency of Jeanine Añez, which had starkly different ideological and political views.

The current government, led by Luis Arce, holds the same ideological views as Morales'. And while its going through infighting with other factions close to Morales after the two fell out, its foreign policy has kept a similar approach.

As for Chile, the country recalled ambassador Jorge Carvajal while issuing "energic" condemnations of Israel's military actions in Gaza, describing them as "collective punishment" to Palestinian civilians.

"From Chile we have sent humanitarian support to Palestine, supported UN-led calls for a ceasefire and we will continue seeking ways to help end this massacre. And if someone has a doubt, we do all this without hesitating to condemn attacks and kidnappings from Hamas. Humanity can't hold with dehumanizing ties," said Boric in a publication on X, formerly known as Twitter.

His Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, made the same decision on Tuesday night. "If Israel doesn't stop the massacre on the Palestinian people, we can't be there," said Petro in an X publication. The president has fiercely condemned Israel, labeling its actions as genocide. He has been strongly criticized for his approach and overlooking the actions of Hamas', which killed over 1,400 people and took 240 hostages on October 7.

The war has entered its 26th day, with heavy clashes in the Northern part of the enclave. For the first time since the war started, the Rafah border crossing has reopened, allowing the first foreign passport holders to leave the war-torn strip and allowing some critically injured Palestinians to seek treatment in Egypt.

Tuesday marked the largest facilitation of humanitarian aid into Gaza, but fuel has not been allowed to enter the strip more than three weeks into the fighting. Israel has expanded its ground operations into Gaza as it seeks to "dismantle" Hamas terrorists.