Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who has not stopped posting comments on social networking sites about the escalation of violence in the Middle East since Saturday, referred to “Nazis” and the risk of “holocaust” in the Gaza Strip, where Israel yesterday imposed absolute siege.

“That’s what the Nazis said about the Jews. Democratic peoples cannot allow Nazism to return to international politics,” President Petros said via X (the former Twitter), commenting on Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallad’s statement that Israel is facing “human beasts.”

“Israelis and Palestinians are human beings as far as international law is concerned. This hate speech, if it continues, will bring nothing but holocaust,” added the Colombian president.

Since Hamas launched a large-scale attack on Israel on Saturday, which killed at least 800 people on the Israeli side, Mr. Petros has posted some forty messages, concerning both the Israeli and Palestinian sides.

Posts that caused bitter recriminations with the Israeli ambassador in Bogota, Gali Dagan.

“We expect a country friendly to Israel to strongly condemn the terrorist attack against innocent civilians,” the ambassador said in an interview.

“Terrorism kills innocent children, in Colombia as well as in Palestine (…) I ask Israel and Palestine to sit down at the table and negotiate peace”, Mr. Petros replied to him yesterday Sunday.

The backlash continued on Monday, with Ambassador Dagan, who spoke to Colombian radio station Blu, “inviting” President Petro “to visit the Yad Vashem museum”, adding that “we could also make a station in Poland, to let’s visit the camp (…) of Auschwitz”.

“I have already been to the Auschwitz concentration camp and I am now seeing it repeated in Gaza,” countered Gustavo Petro via X.

Graffiti, including swastikas, was done by unknown people at the Israeli embassy in Bogota, according to photos published in the press. “This is appalling and must be condemned,” Mr Dagan said.

Yesterday morning, dozens of people gathered at the embassy in a show of support for Israel.

According to the Israeli ambassador, two Colombians are among the missing after the attack on a rave party in the early hours of Saturday morning near the border with the Gaza Strip, whose death toll is approaching 250.

Colombia’s foreign ministry said it had received “requests for assistance in locating two Colombians.”

On Saturday, he condemned in a statement “terrorism and attacks against civilians” in Israel and expressed “solidarity with the victims and their families.” Yesterday, however, the link to this announcement was deactivated and a new announcement was posted in its place, without the word “terrorism”, with Colombian diplomacy expressing its “condemnation” of the “targeting of civilians”.