MEXICO CITY

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Tuesday that her country will not participate as a full member in the US-led group overseeing the Gaza ceasefire plan due to the lack of Palestinian representation on the Board of Peace.

“Given that we recognize Palestine as a state, it’s important that both states, Israel and Palestine, participate. It isn’t set up that way,” she said at a press conference.

Sheinbaum said her country would send Mexico’s ambassador to the UN as an observer.

“They invited us to attend as observers; if we were not going to participate, then to attend as observers. And together with the foreign minister, we decided that our ambassador to the United Nations would attend as an observer,” she added.

Her remarks came ahead of the inaugural meeting of the board on Thursday in Washington, DC.

Sheinbaum has expressed her support for Palestine, describing Israel’s ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian people as genocide and calling for a two-state solution.

Despite the US providing at least $21.7 billion in military aid to Israel since the outbreak of the Israeli-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, during which Israel has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians, Trump announced a US-led body aimed at restoring peace in the region.

The Board of Peace is made up of staunch US allies in Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and Latin America.