Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro said he told his American counterpart Joe Biden that he “cannot continue to allow the massacre of Palestinians” by Israel’s armed forces.
Petro was at the White House in Washington DC for an economic summit that was attended by multiple leaders from the Americas.
The meeting with Biden, an outspoken supporter of Israel, took place days after the Colombian president recalled his ambassador from Israel over alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.
Petro has been among the fiercest opponents of the war in the Middle East that erupted after a Hamas attack on Israel that killed more than 1,000 civilians.
Subsequent retaliatory attacks on the Gaza Strip killed more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
According to Petro, the Israeli attacks on civilian targets constitute genocide, a war crime according to international law.
“The breakdown of international law that we are contemplating today produces more violence, more barbarism and the destruction of democracy,” Petro told reporters after his meeting with Biden.