Venezuela’s Maduro urges world to 'raise voice against genocide' of Palestinians in Gaza amid surging death toll

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has called on the international community to adopt a measure to stop the genocide by Israel against the Palestinian people, as the occupying regime's bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues unabated.

Maduro made the appeal in his television program “With Maduro” on Tuesday, urging all Christians of Venezuela and around the world to stand by the Palestinians in the face of Israeli aggression.

"The world must raise its voice against the genocide, as this is not a war but genocide against the noble Palestinian people," Maduro said.

"I ask my Christian brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, in Venezuela and all over the world, to raise their voices and stand against liquidating the people of Gaza and the Palestinian people," he added.

The Venezuelan president further stressed the genocide against the Palestinians must stop, underlining the necessity of holding an international conference “to restore the rights of the Palestinian people to peace, land, independence, and their own state."

Israeli genocide in Gaza: Death toll tops 5,000, including 2,000 children

The Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 5,080 people have been killed since October 7.

Maduro’s comments come as Israel’s bloody bombing campaign on Gaza entered its 18th day on Tuesday.

Israel waged the war on Gaza on October 7 after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

The death toll in Gaza since October 7 has reached 5,791 with more than 16,000 wounded as Israel continues pounding Gaza.

More than 700 Palestinians were killed in overnight Israeli airstrikes, Gaza's health ministry said on Tuesday, the highest 24-hour death toll since Israel began its bombing campaign.

Israel has also blocked water, food and electricity to Gaza, plunging the besieged enclave into a humanitarian crisis.

Bolivia should sever ties with 'Israel'

Meanwhile, former Bolivian president Evo Morales has criticized his country’s stance regarding the ongoing situation in Gaza, urging the government to sever ties with Israel and declare it a "terrorist” entity.

Morales made the remarks on X, formerly known as Twitter, amid Israel’s escalating violence in the Gaza Strip.

The current Bolivian government should not only cut ties with "Israel" but also strongly and unequivocally condemn the massacres and genocide against the Palestinian people, Morales said.

"He who does not reject genocides is an accomplice. Such genocide cannot be accepted in Palestine" he added, stressing that Israel should be termed "terrorist."

Morales also noted that he regrets that the Bolivian Foreign Ministry "does not denounce with political coherence the true situation that the Palestinian people are going through."

Over 70 Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes on Gaza, hospitals at risk

Overnight Israeli air attacks on various residential neighborhoods across the besieged coastal enclave have killed more than 70 Palestinians, medical authorities say.

This comes as the Israeli occupation continues its brutal aggression against the Gaza Strip, targeting civilian homes, hospitals, and places of worship and causing thousands of casualties amid a complete, stifling siege on the Strip.

The former Bolivian leader further stated that when his government came to power after winning the elections in September/December 2005, Bolivia severed its ties with Israel due to his country's pacifist and anti-imperialistic principles.

He recalled that after the US-backed November 2019 coup, Bolivia obeyed "the orders of the [US] empire" and restored its relations with the Israeli occupation.

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