Cuba condemns 'genocide' committed by 'terrorist state of Israel'

By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) -​​​​​​​ Cuba’s president called for an end to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, which has been raging for more than two-and-a-half months.

“The genocide committed by the terrorist state of Israel in Gaza is a humiliation for all humanity. How long will there be impunity? How long will there be a free way to murder? Cuba, which will never be among the indifferent, raises its voice for Palestine again and again,” Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X.

The island nation has repeatedly condemned the violence in Palestine and even the Cuban Parliament declared solidarity with the Palestinian people.

On Dec. 20 Cuba’s congress condemned "the killing of thousands of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, more than 70% of them children and women, as a result of the indiscriminate bombardments carried out by Israel since Oct. 7.”

"The current situation is a consequence of 75 years of Israeli practices of illegal occupation and colonization, in flagrant violation of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people in their own territory," the declaration said.

The document also pointed to "the complicity of the United States government with this genocide by obstructing the actions of the UN Security Council through the undemocratic and obsolete power of veto to protect the excesses of the government of Israel" and said "the impunity with which Israel has acted can only be explained by its confidence that there will be no consequences due to the support of the United States government."

Despite several of Israel’s allies recently calling on the country to reduce the intensity of its military operations and to better protect civilians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue waging an all-out war against the Palestinian group Hamas.

Israel has launched a massive military campaign on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, killing at least 20,915 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 54,918 others, according to local health authorities.

The onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave's infrastructure damaged or destroyed and nearly 2 million people displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicines.

Around 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.