The Brazilian government officially withdrew its ambassador to Israel on Wednesday, following a diplomatic dispute over the Gaza war.
Federico Meyer will represent Brazil at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament in future, according to an announcement in the nation's official gazette. This means that the Brazilian embassy in Israel will only be led by a chargé d'affaires.
Meyer had already been summoned to Brazil for consultations in February after an escalation in disputes over the assessment of the war in Gaza.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva compared the Israeli military operation in Gaza to the Holocaust.
In response, Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz declared him an undesirable person and summoned Ambassador Meyer to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, in a step seen as a public humiliation by the Brazilian government.
The war in Gaza was triggered by the unprecedented massacre of more than 1,200 people by terrorists from the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group and other militants on October 7. They also took more than 200 people to Gaza as hostages.
Israel responded with massive airstrikes and a ground offensive. The criticism of Israel has grown as the death toll among Palestinians has increased. It currently stands at over 36,100 people dead, according to health authorities in Gaza.
