Ecuador withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv on July 18 in protest at Israel's offensive, which has already killed more than 700 Palestinians. Middle East Monitor reported that Ecuador's foreign minister Ricardo Patino said: “We condemn the Israeli military incursion into Palestinian territory, we require cessation of operations and indiscriminate attacks against civilians.”
On July 19, Venezuela's socialist government condemned Israel, saying it had “initiated a higher phase of its policy of genocide and extermination with the ground invasion of Palestinian territory, killing innocent men, women, girls and boys”.
The statement said: "Venezuela also rejects the cynical campaigns trying to condemn both parties equally, when it is clear you cannot morally compare occupied and massacred Palestine with the occupying state, Israel, which also possesses military superiority ...”
Bolivian President Evo Morales also condemned the Israeli invasion of Gaza, Press TV said on July 21, saying it was time to take action “to end the genocide that Israel is carrying out on Palestine”.
The anti-imperialist governments of Venezuela and Bolivia had already cut ties with Israel in response to its 2009 Operation Cast Lead attack on Gaza.
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