Colombia cuts ties with Israel over 'genocidal' Gaza campaign

President Gustavo Petro said Wednesday Colombia will sever diplomatic ties with Israel, whose government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu he described as "genocidal" in its war in Gaza.

"Tomorrow (Thursday) diplomatic relations with the state of Israel will be severed... for having a government, for having a president that is genocidal," Petro, a harsh critic of the devastating war against Hamas, told a May Day rally in Bogota.

Netanyahu is Israel's head of government, while the country's president — a role which is largely ceremonial — is Isaac Herzog.

The war in Gaza broke out after the unprecedented Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. That assault resulted in the deaths of some 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.

Hamas militants also took about 250 hostages, 129 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 Israel says are presumed dead.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,568 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.

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

"The Colombian president has promised to reward Hamas murderers and rapists — and today he delivered," Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on X.

"History will remember that Gustavo Petro decided to stand by the most despicable monsters humanity has known, who burned babies, murdered children, raped women...