BOGOTA, Colombia

Colombia's president said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a "crazy man" who is "killing many people" in Gaza in the style of Herod, the king of Judea who ordered the slaughter of innocents according to the Christian New Testament.

"Today we are seeing a crazy man who is Netanyahu," Gustavo Petro said over the weekend in Caracas at the Book Fair of Venezuela, where he also criticized the United States for supporting Israel's war on the Gaza Strip because "the Israeli capital owns American banking."

"They don't realize that they are killing a lot of people, not just people and babies," said Petro, who compared Netanyahu to "a very powerful Herod killing and killing children on Earth.”

Petro has constantly defended the Palestinian cause on his X account and has harshly criticized Israel for the bombings and attacks against the Gaza Strip, in which at least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed.

Hospitals, mosques and churches have also been damaged or destroyed in Israel's relentless air and ground attacks since last month.

He has frequently compared the situation in Gaza with the Nazi concentration camps in World War II, which has led the Jewish state to describe his statements as "anti-Semitic."

Petro has also announced that Colombia will propose to the UN the recognition of Palestine as a fully independent state and he has threatened to actively join the complaint filed before the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu for alleged war crimes. He also said that Bogota will cease purchasing weapons from countries that voted against or abstained from a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.