Nicaragua cuts diplomatic ties with Israel

The government of Nicaragua has severed diplomatic relations with Israel due to the country’s growing isolation on the global stage amid its war in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo announced the move to state media on Friday (October 11) after the country’s Congress passed a resolution calling for action after the one-year anniversary of the Gaza war on October 7.

Murillo, who is President Daniel Ortega’s wife, said her husband instructed the government to “sever diplomatic relations with the fascist and genocidal government of Israel”.

The announcement is largely a symbolic one, since Israel does not have a resident ambassador in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua and relations between the two nations are nearly nonexistent.

Still, the announcement comes at a time when Israel is under growing diplomatic scrutiny amid a brutal campaign in Gaza and expanding attacks across the Middle East, including in Lebanon.

The death toll in Gaza has spiralled past 42,000 people, and thousands more have been killed in the bombing campaign in Lebanon, many in the last few weeks.

The Nicaraguan government condemned Israel’s war in Gaza on Friday and said the fighting now “extends against Lebanon and gravely threatens Syria, Yemen and Iran”.

Opposition to the Gaza war has been relatively widespread in Latin America, where leftist leaders in countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Chile have emerged as outspoken critics of Israel.