Gaza: Brazilian President Lula accuses Israel of ‘genocide’

This is “not war, this is genocide,” he assured. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva this Sunday accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. He also drew parallels between the current situation and the extermination of Jews carried out by the Hitler regime.

“This is not a war of soldiers against soldiers. This is a war between a well-trained army, women and children,” the Brazilian leader said while speaking to the press from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he is attending the African Union summit. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip to the Palestinian people has never happened in history. In fact, this has already happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews,” he insisted.

The remarks are among the fiercest comments ever made by Lula, a prominent voice from the South whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the G20, on the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas.

Criticism of Israeli retaliation

The 78-year-old leader condemned the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, calling it a “terrorist” act. But he has since become highly critical of Israel’s military campaign of retaliation.

Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israeli soil has left 1,160 people dead, most of them civilians, according to an Agence France-Presse tally based on official Israeli data. The attackers also took about 250 people hostage, 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israeli data.

Bombings and ground offensives carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip since then have killed at least 28,985 people, most of them women and children, according to the Hamas Health Ministry.