Colombia to receive, care for Palestinian children injured in Gaza war

The government of Colombia, a fierce critic of Israel's war in Gaza, said on Thursday it would receive injured Palestinian children and provide them with medical care.

"We have taken the decision to provide humanitarian support to Palestinian children who will travel with their families to Colombia for rehabilitation," Deputy Minister of Multilateral Affairs Elizabeth Taylor Jay announced.

She was speaking in Stockholm, where she was on a state visit with President Gustavo Petro.

Jay did not say how many children would be taken in by Colombia, nor how they would be removed from war-torn Gaza.

Israel's military onslaught in Gaza has killed at least 37,232 people dead in Gaza, with thousands feared trapped under rubble.

Petro, Colombia's first-ever leftist president, has repeatedly criticised Israel's air and ground offensive in Gaza, and last week suspended coal exports to the country.

Colombia was Israel's main coal supplier.

Petro also said Colombia would stop purchasing weapons made by Israel, one of the main suppliers of the South American country's security forces.

In May, Colombia announced it was severing ties with Israel and opening an embassy in Ramallah in the Palestinian territories.