Israel offers Colombia earthquake assistance as death toll rises to 280

Israel has offered humanitarian aid to Colombia after a powerful earthquake killed at least 280 people and injured thousands more.

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Israel was ready to help following the 7.4-magnitude quake, which struck western Colombia on Monday and caused widespread destruction.

“Israel is prepared to help Colombia in whatever is needed,” Sa’ar wrote on X. “My thoughts and prayers are with the Colombian people in these difficult times.”

Hundreds of people remain missing, and thousands have been injured, while rescue workers have continued searching through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors.

The earthquake struck western Colombia, with some of the worst damage reported in Cali and Pereira. A state of emergency has been declared as authorities continue to assess the scale of the disaster.

Members of Colombia’s Jewish community were among those caught up in the earthquake, with at least 20 Jewish families displaced after significant damage to their homes and both synagogues in Cali suffering serious structural damage, according to preliminary assessments by Jewish humanitarian organisation CADENA.

Cliff Katz, who was inside one of the synagogues when the quake struck, told the Jerusalem Post that people initially felt the building shaking before hearing objects falling and an earthquake alarm sounding.

“We’ve experienced it before, but usually it’s just a little shake for a few seconds, and that’s it. But then we started to hear banging; things were falling,” he said.

Those inside quickly evacuated as the ground moved “up and down and sideways pretty strong”, Katz said.

He said parts of the synagogue’s walls collapsed or separated, while there was also ceiling damage and broken glass.

Cali Rabbi Asher Abarbanel told the Jerusalem Post he was helping community members who were “going through a very difficult time”.

Cali is home to one of Colombia’s smaller established Jewish communities. Between 4,500 and 5,500 Jews live across the country, around three-quarters of them in Bogotá, according to a survey by the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC).

Israeli Fernando Chaim Bisker, who was visiting Colombia with his wife and two children, said the earthquake brought back memories of Israel.

“It reminded me of Israel with the sirens and the bombs,” he told the Jerusalem Post.

Bisker said he had finished morning prayers and was eating breakfast when the shaking intensified, forcing his family into the street.

He said people noticed his kippah and began shouting “Viva Israel” and asking him to bless them.

“Usually people think that there is so much hate, but there is so much love toward the Jewish people,” he said.

World Jewish Relief has now launched an emergency response alongside CADENA, releasing £20,000 from its Disaster Fund to support people affected by the earthquake.

The funding will support CADENA’s work in Cali and Chocó, providing around 2,000 displaced people with clean water, healthcare, medicine and psychosocial support. The response will prioritise displaced people and communities where health services have been disrupted, as well as underserved rural and low-income areas.

Paul Anticoni, chief executive of World Jewish Relief, said: “Our thoughts are with everyone who has lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods in this terrible disaster. The scale of destruction is immense, and we know that the situation is rapidly evolving. As the Jewish community’s response to crisis, we are committed to providing a lifeline to those who need us most.”

It is the second time in recent weeks that WJR has worked alongside CADENA following a major earthquake. The organisations are also responding to urgent humanitarian needs following the devastating earthquakes which struck Venezuela in June, where Jewish News has reported on the impact on the country’s Jewish community.

Israel’s offer comes amid rapidly warming relations between Jerusalem and Bogotá following the election of President Abelardo de la Espirella.

Within days of taking office last week, his government announced that Colombia would recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, becoming only the second country after the United States to do so.

The move marked a dramatic reversal from the government of his predecessor Gustavo Petro, who broke diplomatic relations with Israel in 2024 during the war in Gaza.

Announcing the decision, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry cited continuing instability in the Middle East and the strategic importance of the Golan to Israel’s security.

“Given the persistent regional instability in the Middle East and considering the strategic importance of the Golan Heights to Israel’s security, the Government of Colombia recognises Israeli sovereignty over this territory, as well as Israel’s right to protect itself against external threats,” it said.

The ministry added that maintaining Israel’s control and sovereignty over the Golan was “an essential component of its national defence and its ability to protect and safeguard its citizens”.

Sa’ar welcomed the move as “historic”.

Israel captured most of the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and extended Israeli law to the territory in 1981, effectively annexing it.

The United States became the first country to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019 under President Donald Trump. Colombia’s decision makes it the second, while the UN and most of the international community continue to regard the territory as Syrian land occupied by Israel.