The Colombian government will ban coal exports to Israel from Thursday in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza, according to a document released by the executive branch.
“Article 95 of the Political Constitution establishes that being Colombian means (…) acting in accordance with the principle of social solidarity, responding with humanitarian action in situations that endanger the life or health of people,” says the government decree adopted by Gustavo Petro, dated August 14, Caracol Radio reports, quoting Europa Press.
The decree also explicitly refers to the provisional measures adopted by the International Court of Justice, which recognizes “the gravity of the humanitarian situation that has arisen in Palestine due to the military operation carried out by Israel since 7 October 2023,” when Hamas carried out an attack of unprecedented proportions on Israeli territory that killed 1,194 people, most of them civilians.
Thus, from August 22, “the export of thermal coal to the State of Israel” will be prohibited, with the exception of those already approved before the entry into force of the decree signed by Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo and Finance Minister Ricardo Bonilla Gonzalez.
The war, which continues to threaten to spread across the Middle East region, has already left at least 40,005 people dead in the Gaza Strip (almost 2% of the population) and 92,401 wounded, as well as more than 10,000 missing, most of them civilians believed to be buried under rubble, according to updated figures from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.