Bolivia, governed by left-wing President Luis Arce, becomes the first Latin American country to sever diplomatic ties with the Jewish state since the outbreak of war.
Chile and Colombia at the same time announced that they were recalling their ambassadors to Tel Aviv to protest respectively against “unacceptable violations of humanitarian law by Israel” and “the massacre of the Palestinian people”. In Bolivia, the government “took the decision to break diplomatic relations with the State of Israel, as a sign of rejection and condemnation of the aggressive and disproportionate Israeli military offensive carried out in the Gaza Strip”, declared the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Freddy Mamani, during a press conference.
The Secretary General of the Presidency, Maria Nela Prada, announced the sending of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. “We demand an end to the attacks (…) which have so far caused thousands of civilian deaths and the forced displacement of Palestinians,” she added.
“Bolivia’s decision to sever diplomatic ties with Israel is a capitulation to terrorism and the regime of the ayatollahs in Iran,” responded the spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry in a statement.
“The Bolivian government aligns itself with the terrorist organization Hamas,” he added. In a statement Tuesday, Hamas welcomed Bolivia’s announcement, expressing “great esteem” for the decision taken, and urged Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel to do the same.
Already broken relationships
The war between Israel and Hamas, which entered its 26th day on Wednesday, was triggered by the bloody attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement on October 7 from the Gaza Strip which it controls, killing more than 1,400 people, mainly civilians. and more than 240 hostages. The Israeli army counted 326 soldiers killed.
In retaliation, the Israeli army relentlessly bombs this besieged territory where 2.4 million Palestinians are crowded together. And it is now conducting increasingly deep ground operations there. In the Gaza Strip, before the bombing of the Jabaliya refugee camp which left at least 50 dead on Tuesday, Hamas had reported 8,525 dead.
In the occupied West Bank, at least 122 Palestinians have been killed by fire from Israeli soldiers or settlers since October 7, according to the local Health Ministry. Before cutting ties, Luis Arce spoke on Monday with Palestinian representative Mahmoud Elalwani. Bolivia had already severed diplomatic relations with Israel in 2009. Former left-wing president Evo Morales intended to protest against Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip while La Paz has recognized a Palestinian state since the 1980s.
Diplomatic ties were reestablished in November 2019 by a right-wing interim government before Luis Arce, then runner-up to Evo Morales, won the presidential election in 2020.
Evo Morales considered the Arce government’s decision late, saying that it had been taken “under popular pressure” and after “the Israeli regime had murdered more than 8,500 people”.