Honduras recalls ambassador to Israel over 'serious humanitarian situation' in Gaza

Despite move, which follows protests by several other Latin American nations, Honduran FM says ties with Israel stable; diplomats and staff remain at embassy in Jerusalem

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras became the latest Latin American country Friday to recall its ambassador to Israel for consultations on what it described as the “serious humanitarian situation” facing Palestinians in Gaza amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

“In the face of the serious humanitarian situation suffered by the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, the government” has called envoy Roberto Martinez to Tegucigalpa “for consultations,” Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina said on X, formerly Twitter.

Honduras is the latest leftist-led Latin American government to take diplomatic steps to express its disapproval of Israel’s expanded offensive against Hamas in the wake of the October 7 massacres carried out by the Gaza-ruling terror group.

Bolivia’s government severed diplomatic relations with Israel on Tuesday, accusing it of carrying out “crimes against humanity” in Gaza. Chile and Colombia also recalled their own ambassadors to Israel as they criticized the Israeli offensive against Hamas terrorists.

In the massive onslaught last month, Palestinian terrorists stormed across the border into Israel under the cover of heavy rocket fire, killing 1,400 people and taking over 240 hostages into Gaza. Most of those slain were civilians at their homes and at a music festival.

The Palestinian death toll in the war has reached 9,227, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. The figures cannot be verified independently and are also believed to include terrorists and civilians killed by misfired rockets.

Reina told The Associated Press that recalling the ambassador was a way to draw attention to the civilian situation in Gaza and said the government decided to pull him out until the situation was clearer. Relations with Israel remain stable and Honduran diplomats and staff will remain in the embassy, he added.

He noted the main points of a recent United Nations resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire, respect for humanitarian law and to start a dialogue in search of peace.

“It is a position to say, in a way, that the situation of the innocent population concerns us,” Reina said.

Then-Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (L) and Honduras’ then-President Juan Orlando Hernández inaugurate the new Honduran embassy in Jerusalem, June 24, 2021. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

In 2021, Honduras moved its embassy to Jerusalem under then-president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is now awaiting trial on drug trafficking charges in the United States.

At the time, Honduras’ decision to move its embassy to Jerusalem was seen as an attempt by Hernández to curry favor with the Trump administration, which had moved the US embassy there in 2018. Honduras, which has a significant Evangelical Christian population, was the fourth country to move its embassy to Jerusalem, and has since been followed by Papua New Guinea.

Castro, a leftist, succeeded Hernández. Honduras’ first female president has tried to walk a line that aligns with other leftist governments in the hemisphere like Venezuela and Cuba, but without completely alienating the United States.