BOGOTA, May 23 — Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered the opening of an embassy in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, Foreign Affairs Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo announced Wednesday, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
“President Petro has given the instruction that we install a Colombian embassy in Ramallah. That is the next step we are going to take,” Murillo told reporters.
The announcement comes after Petro's government withdrew its diplomats from Israel and broke relations with the country on May 2 after describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide”.
The intention to open an embassy in Palestine was announced by Petro on October 20 last year, when he met with the Ambassadors of Israel, Gali Dagan, and Palestine, RAF Almalki.
According to Murillo, the president also led a meeting of leaders in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, where it was agreed to implement strategies so that Palestine is recognised as a state in full right before the United Nations (UN).
"We are sure that more and more countries will recognise Palestine, and this is nothing against Israel or the Jews," said the Colombian foreign minister.
"The UN agreed in the context of the Oslo agreements that a two-state solution will be created, and if two states are needed, Palestine needs to be recognised as a full state,” he added.
The announcement was made on the same day that Spain, Ireland and Norway announced that they will jointly recognise the State of Palestine on May 28. Colombia recognised Palestine as a state on August 3, 2018, during the government of Juan Manuel Santos.
In GAZA CITY, the Al-Awda Hospital in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday said the Israeli army raided the hospital and forced its medical staff to leave following a four-day siege.
In a statement, the hospital said the medical staff were forced to leave toward the western Gaza City area after one of the medical staff was arrested by the Israeli army.
It added that 14 of the medical staff remained in the hospital, with 11 injured people and their escorts who were unable to leave the hospital without ambulances.
On Wednesday, the Government Media Office in Gaza said the health sector in northern Gaza is completely out of service due to the Israeli deliberate targeting of the health facilities since October 7, 2023.
Israel has launched a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip since an October 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas that killed nearly 1,200 people.
More than 35,700 Palestinians have since been killed, most of them women and children, and nearly 80,000 others injured.
Eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered it to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
— Bernama
