Mauritania to Israeli Embassy: ‘Out’

Mauritania has ordered the Israeli embassy staff to leave the country within 48 hours, after severing ties with Tel Aviv over the Gaza siege.

“The Mauritanian authorities have given staff at the Israeli embassy in Nouakchott 48 hours to leave the country,” a foreign ministry statement said on Friday.
The announcement follows a January 16 decision by Mauritania’s military ruler General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, to freeze relations with Tel Aviv at a summit of Arab nations in Doha, Qatar.

Reports confirmed that the embassy has been closed, as staff were seen leaving the building at Nouakchott.

Relations between Tel Aviv and Mauritania — which is one of the three Arab countries to have full diplomatic ties with Israel — were severely strained after Israel launched a three-week-long military offensive against the Gaza Strip in December.

Venezuela and Bolivia had earlier severed diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv expelling Israeli ambassadors to their countries.

Israel’s deadly war wreaked havoc on the coastal sliver leaving over 1,330 Palestinians dead and 5,450 others wounded — a large number of them women and children.

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