MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Belize cuts ties with Israel for actions against Gaza civilians

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as shields for their headquarters

The Government of Belize announced in a statement Tuesday that it was suspending diplomatic ties with Israel in rejection of the military actions undertaken in the Gaza Strip following the Oct. 7 attacks by the terrorist organization Hamas.

”Since October 7, 2023, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) engaged in incessant indiscriminate shelling in Gaza that has killed more than 11,000 innocent civilians, mostly women and children. The bombardment has destroyed many buildings and infrastructure, including hospitals, schools, and other constructions,“ the document read.

”Israel has systematically violated international law, international humanitarian law, and the human rights of Gazans,” the Government of Belize argued while taking back its approval for the appointment of Еіnаt Кrаnz-Nеіgеr as Israel's ambassador in the Central American country.

Belize blamed Israel for harming more than one million people, forcing them into displacement, and cutting water, food, electricity, and medical supplies, which has resulted in the loss of civilian lives.

The Central American nation also condemned the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) actions in the Gaza Strip and called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Belize thus joined Bolivia in breaking up with Israel while Jordan, Bahrain, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Colombia, Chile, and Honduras have recalled their ambassadors from Tel Aviv.

Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Tuesday that Israel's deployment in the Gaza Strip amounted to “terrorism.” He made those remarks while welcoming back home a batch of evacuees who had left Gaza through the southern border with Egypt and were flown on a presidential aircraft to South America.

“If Hamas committed an act of terrorism and did what it did, the State of Israel is also committing several acts of terrorism, by not taking into account that children and women are not in the war, they have already killed 5,000 children as well,” Lula stressed. “There are 1,500 missing children who are surely under the rubble,” he added.

“We are going to make every effort within the reach of Brazilian diplomacy to try to bring all the Brazilians who want to come to Brazil. I even asked that they may bring non-Brazilian relatives whom we are going to legalize here,” Lula told the evacuees. Since the beginning of the Middle East conflict, 1,477 people - 1,462 Brazilians, 11 Palestinians, three Bolivian women, and one Jordanian - and 53 domestic pets have been rescued.

In Brazil, Israel's ambassador Daniel Zonshine has openly supported opposition politicians linked to former President Jair Bolsonaro.

In the global arena, a genocide case against Israel has been filed before the The Hage-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for cutting off access to water, energy, food, and medicines to people in Gaza. The plaintiffs argued that with those actions Israel sought to annihilate the local population. Over 11,360 Palestinians have been killed since Israel's retaliation began.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) concurred, saying Israel’s attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and medical personnel in Gaza should be “investigated as war crimes.” The IDF attacks are “apparently unlawful” and are “further destroying” the healthcare system in Gaza, according to HRW.

Israel has accused Hamas of using hospitals in Gaza as shields for their headquarters.

“The strikes on hospitals have killed hundreds of people and put many patients at grave risk because they’re unable to receive proper medical care,” said Dr. A. Kayum Ahmed, HRW’s special adviser on the right to health, noting that the Gaza healthcare infrastructure was “already hard hit by an unlawful blockade.”

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least 521 people – including 16 medical workers – have been killed in 137 “attacks on health care” in Gaza. The UN has established that two-thirds of primary care facilities and half of all hospitals in the enclaves were “not functioning” by Nov. 10, amid an “unprecedented numbers of severely injured patients.”

“The Israeli government should immediately end unlawful attacks on hospitals, ambulances, and other civilian objects, as well as its total blockade of the Gaza Strip, which amounts to the war crime of collective punishment,” HRW said while asking the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, and other countries to “suspend military assistance and arms sales” to Israel.