Colombian president says ignoring Gaza 'genocide' puts future generations at risk

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Monday urged the world to remember the children affected by the "genocide" in Gaza, warning that ignoring it could lead to future generations facing similar atrocities.

"The children of the genocide in Gaza that humanity must not forget," he said on his X account with a photo that depicted dead children in Gaza. "If we let this crime against humanity go unnoticed, then it will be our children who are going to be bombed too".

Petro has been critical of Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip, which has caused the deaths of more than 38,000 people since it started in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. The Palestinian Health Ministry says more than 70% of the dead are women and children.

Colombia has declared its backing for South Africa's lawsuit against Israel before The International Court of Justice citing violations of the 1948 Convention Against Genocide during the attack on the Gaza Strip.

On May 1, Petro ended diplomatic relations with Israel after describing Israel’s actions in Gaza as "genocide" and suspended arms purchases from that country. The Colombian president has compared the war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jewish people and has blasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he will "go down in history as a genocide perpetrator."

The Colombian government announced in June that it would receive injured Palestinian children and provide them with medical care.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed most of the enclave's 2.3 million people from their homes amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.