Israel’s 'barbarity' against Palestinians surpasses that of Hamas: Colombian president

​​​​​​​By Laura Gamba

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - Colombian President Gustavo Petro blamed Israel for the bombing of a hospital in northern Gaza that killed hundreds.

Israel's "barbarity" has gone beyond that of the Hamas resistance group, he said.

“With the bombing of the Baptist hospital in Gaza and the death of hundreds of women, children and medical personnel, the barbarity of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people has far surpassed the barbarity of Hamas against the Israeli civilian population,” Petro wrote on X.

"It is innocuous to compare barbarities," he said, noting the need to open the space for peace and "the option approved by the United Nations since 1967 of two free states: the state of Israel and the Palestinian state, sovereign in their territories."

The deadly blast at the al-Ahli Baptist hospital in the Gaza Strip provoked bitter recriminations on both sides with Hamas officials blaming an Israeli airstrike for the explosion, and Israel saying the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by another resistance group, Islamic Jihad.

Petro declared that the attack on the hospital was a war crime that must be investigated internationally.

"The attack on the Palestinian civilian population, the weakest part of the chain, has no ethical or moral hold. The world must impose peace and restore the right of the Palestinian people to be free," he wrote earlier on X.

The Colombian president declared himself confused by objections of those who label him as an anti-Semite for only criticizing Israel for its “illegal” occupation of Palestinian territory. "I am confused as to whether it is due to intellectual baseness or pure and simple ignorance," he said.

After being absent from public events for more than a week, there is growing criticism from Colombia’s opposition who accuse Petro of trying to intervene in the Israel-Palestine conflict.