Venezuela: Israel's ambassador to Venezuela left the country Friday, expelled by President Hugo Chavez in rejection of Israel's attacks on Gaza. Chavez had given Ambassador Shlomo Cohen and some embassy personnel until Friday to leave the country.

"We are harboring the hope that this will be resolved quickly and relations will improve," Cohen told The Associated Press before boarding a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. On Thursday, Cohen called the expulsion "the most difficult moment in the more than 50 year history of relations between Venezuela and Israel."

Chavez called Cohen's expulsion a "gesture of dignity" in response to Israeli air and ground strikes on Gaza, which have killed at least 777 Palestinians since Dec. 27 - many of them civilians. The Israeli offensive aims to stop the Palestinian militant group Hamas from firing rockets into southern Israel. Cohen defended the Israel offensive, saying there was "no alternative."

Jewish community leader David Bittan said the departure of the ambassador and embassy personnel means Israeli residents and Venezuelans with family in Israel have nowhere to go to resolve passport issues.

Elsewhere in Latin America on Friday, pro-Israeli demonstrators took to the streets in El Salvador and Uruguay's government announced its support for U. N. efforts to broker a cease fire in Gaza. In El Salvador's capital, more than 100 people gathered outside the Israeli Embassy.

"We're supporting the embassy and the people of Israel in their reaction in legitimate defense and telling them we want peace for both sides," said Moises Ortiz, waving the flags of Israel and El Salvador together. 

Source : AP