Mauritania severs all diplomatic ties with Israel

Mauritania has officially ended its relations with Israel one year after freezing all bilateral ties over Israel’s deadly siege on the Gaza Strip.

The northwest African nation’s foreign minister, Naha Mint Hamdi Ould Mouknass, said late Saturday that her country’s break of diplomatic relations with Israel was “complete and definitive.”

The announcement was made at a gathering in Nouakchott aimed at rallying support for policies of President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Nouakchott has also expelled Israel’s representative and closed Tel Aviv’s embassy in the country.

The move leaves Egypt and Jordan as the only Arab countries to have signed peace treaties with Israel that host Israeli embassies.

Relations between the two soured after Israel’s offensive on the tiny but densely populated enclave in late 2008. Mauritania and Qatar froze relations with Tel Aviv a few months later.

Several other nations, including Bolivia and Venezuela, suspended ties with Israel over the 22-day air and ground assault that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.

The number of fatalities at the Israeli side by the end of the conflict reportedly stood at 13.