Colombia Welcomes UN Resolution on Gaza Ceasefire

Colombia welcomes the United Nations Security Council resolution which, for the first time, calls for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza. This is the decision that the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, has been demanding from international organizations and Israel since the Jewish army began its military offensive on the Gaza Strip at the end of October last year.

In this regard, the Colombian Foreign Ministry yesterday expressed its support for the approval of Resolution S/RES/2728 (2024) of March 25, 2024 on the situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question approved by the UN Security Council, which voted for a ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, calling for the cessation of hostilities and the release of all hostages, and for efforts to find a final resolution of the conflict.

Conflict resolution

Colombia has expressed that this resolution follows the line that the country has maintained to end the violence, starting with a ceasefire, a situation that should allow the release of hostages and an end to the deaths of civilians, including thousands of Palestinian children.

The Colombian government agrees with the Resolution that “stresses the urgent need to expand the flow of humanitarian aid and strengthen the protection of civilians throughout the Gaza Strip and reiterates its demand that all barriers to the provision of humanitarian aid be lifted at scale”, as it has stated on various occasions.

In this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has welcomed the decision, in addition to announcing that it is “following this situation closely, reaffirming its call for an immediate ceasefire, with the support of the international community as a whole”.

Stopping the “genocide”

In the message issued by the Colombian government, the country reaffirms a controversial statement, since it describes the situation as “genocide”. In this way, the document issued yesterday, the government expresses that it expects “a fundamental solution that stops the genocide and responds to the humanitarian crisis in that region”.

These terms, which have been repeated by other countries in the world, have caused a long and harsh controversy between Colombia and Israel, giving rise to a diplomatic crisis that has experienced different phases.

Since the beginning of the Israeli invasion of the territory of Gaza, five months ago, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, described the action of the Jewish army as following patterns that “the Nazis” developed against the Jewish people in the last century.

Later, in the face of the scandalous numbers of victims and the destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, Colombia described the situation as “genocide” against the Palestinian people.

What changes in Gaza?

In Gaza, the epicenter of the unprecedented human crisis in the area, nothing seems likely to change in the short term. Hamas has welcomed the resolution and reiterated its readiness to conduct a prisoner exchange, but Israel has already made it clear that, once again, it will not heed UN resolutions, which are considered a source of international law.

In fact, as a protest measure, Tel Aviv has cancelled the trip to Washington of two of its closest advisors. The visit of the Israeli Defense Minister to the United States, on the other hand, is being maintained.

The war, says Netanyahu, will continue. And not only that, but, against Washington’s warnings, he reiterates that he wants to invade the city of Rafah, where more than one million Palestinians are trapped. Netanyahu is thus openly defying the umpteenth demand of the U.S. State Department.

Where there are important changes is in Israel. Its position on the international scene has been shaken. The country is more isolated than ever in this century and there is a serious crisis of confidence with the United States, which no longer wants to protect it in the UN.

The main unknown is what the Security Council will do if Israel, as it seems, ignores its resolution. The United Nations has the power to sanction or even intervene militarily, but it does not appear that Washington is willing to go that far.

In fact, White House spokesman John Kirby has joined the heart of conciliation. The abstention “does not represent a strategic shift in our policy” toward Israel, the White House spokesman said.