Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has urged the US to stop “the genocide” being committed by Israel in its assault on the Gaza Strip.
“President Biden must act quickly to stop the genocide in Gaza,” Petro said in a post on X.
He said: “This approach is true: the Israeli people must change their current government and open the way to a definitive peace that is based on the existence of two sovereign states.”
Petro was commenting on a news report that Biden administration staff held a vigil outside the White House on Wednesday calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
PALESTINE CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT:
A Palestinian was killed in the bombing of a residential apartment in the Masoud family home in Shawa Square in the Daraj neighborhood in Gaza.
Several Palestinians were killed and injured when Israeli aircraft bombed two houses on… pic.twitter.com/HYV04Yxda8
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 15, 2023
More than three dozen people, including political appointees and administration staff, attended the vigil.
Addressing the protesters was Josh Paul, a former State Department official who resigned from his job in October over disagreement with the Biden administration’s approach to the current onslaught on Gaza.
“A temporary pause to this violence was never enough,” Paul reportedly said.
“We must move with urgency to save as many lives as possible and achieve an immediate, permanent ceasefire agreement and the return of all hostages.”
Wael al-Dahdouh and cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa were injured while covering an Israeli bombing that targeted a school in Khan Yunis.https://t.co/e2RIsnYZIX pic.twitter.com/BWv9VBcllZ
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 15, 2023
He also said the American people and respected institutions like the United Nations are pleading for a ceasefire, “but this administration has yet to listen.”
“We demand President Biden and members of the Cabinet to speak up: Call for a permanent ceasefire, a release of all hostages and an immediate de-escalation now,” he stressed.
The US has vetoed all recent UN resolutions calling for a ceasefire.
“When it comes to the food security situation, we managed to do during the seven-day pause a survey, and what we found there was that half of the population are starving,” Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program (WFP) Carl Skau told reporters in New York after a… pic.twitter.com/AN0dAjEWzr
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 15, 2023
Human Rights Watch has reportedly warned that the US risks “complicity in war crimes” by continuing to provide Israel with weapons and diplomatic cover.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 18,787 Palestinians have been killed and more than 50,897 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7. Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(PC, MEMO)
