Foreign Minister Manuel González repeated Costa Rica’s desire for an immediate ceasefire and urged the United Nations Security Council to take responsibility for ending the violence in the Gaza Strip, during a press conference at the Casa Amarilla Monday afternoon.
The minister’s message came on the same day that Israel and Hamas announced a 72-hour truce starting Tuesday.
After meeting with President Luis Guillermo Solís earlier in the day, González said he met with ambassadors from Security Council member states with diplomatic missions in Costa Rica, including permanent members the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, France, and China, and non-permanent members Argentina, Chile and South Korea.
“We insisted that they take all the necessary steps so that the Security Council acts and immediately puts this topic on their agenda,” he said.
The foreign minister hedged whether the statement would gain any traction with the world powers, adding that it was their turn to act.
“[Costa Rica] cannot remain a silent witness to what is happening,” González said.
González also used some of his strongest words to date against Hamas, which he criticized for its “extreme and fundamentalist” policies.
González said that Costa Rica would not call its ambassador to Israel in Tel Aviv, Rodrigo Carreras, back to Costa Rica for consultation about the war in Gaza that has lasted more than four weeks and claimed the lives of more than 1,800 Palestinians in Gaza and more than 60 Israelis so far. Casa Amarilla released a statement last week saying that Carreras would return to Costa Rica briefly for personal reasons until Aug. 14.
AFP contributed to this report.
