30 Countries to Meet in Colombia to End Israel’s Gaza Genocide

Bogota (Quds News Network)- Officials from over 30 countries will gather in Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, for a two-day event focused on defining legal and diplomatic actions to end Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the illegal occupation of Palestine.

The summit is due to be held on 15-16 July, co-hosted by the governments of Colombia and South Africa as co-chairs of The Hague Group, to coordinate diplomatic and legal action to counter what they describe as “a climate of impunity” enabled by Israel and its powerful allies.

It came “in response to the escalating violations of international law in Palestine, including the crime of genocide”, according to a statement from the Colombian government.

The Hague Group is a bloc of currently eight states, launched on 31 January in the eponymous Dutch city with the stated goal of holding Israel accountable under international law. The founding members of the group included Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia, Senegal and South Africa.

States due to take part in the summit include Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Cuba, Djibouti, Honduras, Indonesia, Ireland, Lebanon, Malaysia, Namibia, Nicaragua, Oman, Portugal, Spain, Qatar, Turkey, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Uruguay, and Palestine.

Officials attending include UN special rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese; the head of the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees Philippe Lazzarini; UN special rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng; the chair of the UN working group on discrimination against women and girls, Laura Nyirinkindi; and Andres Macias Tolosa, UN working group on mercenaries mandate holder.

According to the group’s coordinator Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, the group has been formed in part as a reaction to the non-compliance of states with binding international legal obligations.

This is a reference to the pushback by a number of western states against the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant in November 2024, and Israel’s failure to comply with multiple orders by the ICJ to ensure the Genocide Convention is not violated in Gaza.