MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Bolivia breaks relations with Israel over Gaza invasion

Bolivia's Pte. Evo Morales

President Evo Morales announced Wednesday that Bolivia severed diplomatic ties with Israel as an act of solidarity with Palestinians suffering from the current offensive in the Gaza strip.

"Bolivia had diplomatic relations with Israel, but in the face of these acts of grave attacks against life, against humanity, Bolivia breaks diplomatic relations with Israel," he said during a reception for the diplomatic corps at the presidential palace. President Morales also called on the international community to unite in defence of humanity. "The crimes of the government of Israel damage stability and global peace and have brought the world back to the worst stage of crimes against humanity that have not been seen except during World War II and, in recent years, in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda," Morales said in statements cited by the official ABI news agency. Last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expelled Israel's ambassador in Caracas to protest the deaths in Gaza. Launched December 27, the Israeli campaign in Gaza has left more than 1.000 Palestinians dead and 4,600 wounded. The United Nations estimates that half of the dead are women and children. Israel says the aim of the military intervention is stopping Hamas militants, who run the Gaza strip, from firing rockets at southern Israel.