Chile to Open Embassy in Palestinian Territories, Says President

Chile's President Gabriel Boric addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, September 20, 2022. (Reuters)
Chile's President Gabriel Boric addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, September 20, 2022. (Reuters)
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Chile to Open Embassy in Palestinian Territories, Says President

Chile's President Gabriel Boric addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, September 20, 2022. (Reuters)
Chile's President Gabriel Boric addresses the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN Headquarters in New York City, US, September 20, 2022. (Reuters)

Chile plans to open an embassy in the Palestinian territories, President Gabriel Boric said late on Wednesday, which could make the Andean country one of only a handful to have an embassy-level office in the territories that are contested with Israel.

Chilean Foreign Minister Antonia Urrejola confirmed the plan on Thursday but said there was no timeline in place yet and that Chile continues to recognize both Palestine and Israel as legitimate states.

Leftist Boric, who has repeatedly expressed support for the Palestinian people's demand for an independent state, made the comments at a private ceremony in Santiago hosted by the city's important Palestinian diaspora.

"I am taking a risk (saying) this... we are going to raise our official representation in Palestine from having a charge d'affaires; now we are going to open an embassy," Boric said, without giving details on where the embassy would be located.

A spokesperson for the Israeli embassy in Chile said it would not be making a public statement on the matter.

The Palestinian Authority's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of business hours.

The Palestinian territories, which Palestinians want recognized as a state, encompass the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and contest control over East Jerusalem. Israel captured those areas in a 1967 Middle East war and there have been regular clashes since.

The West Bank has experienced some of the worst levels of violence in more than a decade this year, much of it concentrated around Nablus and the nearby city of Jenin, with at least 150 Palestinians and more than 20 Israelis killed.

Israeli forces killed a Palestinian combatant in clashes near a flashpoint site on Thursday, underlining the continuing violence in the occupied West Bank that will confront Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming government.

Netanyahu has secured a coalition with religious and ultranationalist partners who oppose Palestinian statehood and want to extend Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Chile's Boric said the embassy was meant to give Palestinians the representation they deserve and to demand that "international law be respected."

In September, Boric postponed receiving the credentials of Israel's new ambassador to Chile after Israeli forces killed a Palestinian teenager. Israel criticized the decision, saying it "seriously" harmed bilateral ties.



Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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Israel Says Apprehended Members of Iran-backed Cell in Syria

06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
06 July 2025, Palestinian Territories, Tulkarm: An Israeli soldier enforces a ban as he attempts to enter the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank. Photo: Nasser Ishtayeh/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Israel's military said Monday it had apprehended members of an Iran-backed cell in southern Syria, the second such operation it has announced in the past week.

Since the December overthrow of Syria's longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, Israel has carried out hundreds of air strikes primarily on military sites and carried out cross-border ground raids.

In a statement, the military said troops "completed an overnight operation to apprehend a cell that was operated by the Iranian Quds Force in the Tel Kudna area of southern Syria."

"For the second time in the past week... troops completed a targeted overnight operation and apprehended several operatives who posed a threat in the area," the statement added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said Israeli forces raided early Monday a village in the Quneitra countryside of southern Syria and "carried out searches targeting several homes, which ended with the arrest of two brothers".

On Wednesday, Israel's military said its forces had apprehended members of an Iranian-backed "terrorist cell" in southern Syria and seized weapons.