Nicaragua breaks diplomatic ties with Israel amid ongoing Gaza war

The government of Nicaragua has announced that it will break diplomatic ties with Israel, adding to the country’s growing isolation on the global stage amid its war on Gaza.

Nicaraguan Vice President Rosario Murillo announced the move to state media after Congress passed a resolution calling for action following 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, 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.

On Saturday, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed the decision and said it hoped it would “serve as a model to other friendly governments to take similar measures, as a means of holding Israel accountable for the genocide it is committing against the Palestinian people”.

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.