Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has once again affirmed that Israel is committing a “genocide” against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Speaking at an event in Rio de Janeiro on Friday, President Lula stated, “What Israel is doing is not a war, it’s genocide because they are killing women and children.”
“This is genocide. Thousands of dead children, thousands missing. It’s not soldiers who are dying, but women and children in hospitals. If this is not genocide, I don’t know what genocide is,” Lula added.
The Brazilian president has consistently held this position, emphasizing the term “genocide.”
Lula also addressed the issue of widespread famine in the besieged Strip.“It is unacceptable for children and women in Gaza to go to bed without food or even a glass of milk,” he said.
‘Like What Hitler Did’ – President Lula Accuses Israel of Genocide in Gaza (VIDEO)
On February 18, Lula accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and compared its war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jewish people in Nazi Germany.
“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide,” Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa where he was taking part in the African Union summit.
Following Lula’s remarks, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has declared Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva persona non grata and Brazil has summoned its ambassador to Tel Aviv.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 29,606 Palestinians have been killed, and 69,737 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
‘President Lula is Persona Non Grata in Israel’ – Israeli Foreign Minister
Moreover, at least 7,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
(PC, WAFA)
