Petro suspended all his country's purchases of weapons from Israel (French - Archive)

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Thursday accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, calling on the world to put an end to violations by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Petro said - in a post on the “X” platform - that “Netanyahu killed more than 100 Palestinians who were just seeking food. This is what is known as genocide and reminds us of the Holocaust, even if the world powers are unwilling to acknowledge it.”

The Colombian president's statements come in reference to what was called the "flour massacre," in which the occupation army killed more than 100 Palestinians on Thursday and injured more than 800, who were waiting to receive aid in the northern Gaza Strip.

Petro added, "The world must put an end" to Netanyahu's violations, announcing that his country had suspended all arms purchases from Israel.

Last November, Petro announced the recall of his country's ambassador to Israel for consultations, in protest against Israeli violations against Palestinians in Gaza.

Following in Brazil's footsteps

The Colombian president's statements came days after Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva renewed Israel's accusation of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, after sparking a diplomatic crisis by comparing the aggression on the Gaza Strip to the "Jewish Holocaust."

“This is genocide,” da Silva said - during an event in Rio de Janeiro on February 23. “There are thousands of dead children, thousands of missing people. It is not the soldiers who are dying, but women and children in the hospital. If this is not genocide, I don’t know what genocide is?!”

Da Silva also summoned his country's ambassador to Israel for consultations, in response to Tel Aviv's attack on him against the backdrop of his statements regarding the Israeli war on the besieged Palestinian Strip.

Since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, which was carried out by the Palestinian resistance on October 7th in response to the occupation’s continuing violations, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza that left tens of thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis.

Source: Al Jazeera