Colombia's president calls Israeli bombing of children in Gaza 'outrageous'

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro described the “bombing of children in Gaza” as “outrageous,” in response Thursday to criticism from Israel after he backed his Brazilian counterpart who compared the war on Gaza with the Holocaust.

“It is outrageous to murder children with bombs. I am outraged against genocide,” Petro said on X.

He said “the vast majority” of Latin America was against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's “barbarism and his transformation into the contemporary Herod.”

Petro also criticized the US vetoes at the UN Security Council that urged an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.

"The immense humanity repudiates the extermination of the Palestinian people. Either it is the vetoes or it is the votes in the UN, if the first there will only be cruelty and barbarism in the world, if the second, we will have a human civilization,” he wrote on X.

The message was published after Petro on Tuesday backed Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who compared the war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jewish people.

“I express my complete solidarity to President Lula of Brazil. In Gaza there is a genocide and thousands of children, women and elderly civilians are cowardly murdered. Lula has only spoken the truth and the truth is defended or barbarism will annihilate us,” Petro wrote on X.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant responded Wednesday that the words of support were "outrageous."

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ensuing Israeli attacks have killed more than 29,410 Palestinians and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN