Brazilian President Lula da Silva accuses Israel of committing 'genocide' in Gaza

Europe 1 with AFP // Photo credit: Ricardo STUCKERT / Brazilian Presidency / AFP 5:24 p.m., February 18, 2024

Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva on Sunday accused Israel of committing a "genocide" of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, drawing a parallel with the extermination of the Jews carried out by the Hitler regime. “What is happening in the Gaza Strip is not a war, it is a genocide,” Lula da Silva told reporters from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where he is attending a Union summit. African.

One of the most virulent voices against the Israeli offensive

“This is not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It is a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” added the Brazilian leader, a veteran of the left. "What is happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people has not happened at any other time in history. In fact, it has happened before: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews," he said. he insisted. The remarks were among the most virulent comments ever made on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas by Lula, a prominent voice from the South whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the G20.

The 78-year-old leader condemned Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, calling it a "terrorist" act. But he has since been very critical of Israel's military campaign of retaliation. The unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil resulted in the deaths of 1,160 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli figures. The attackers also took around 250 people hostage, 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 presumed dead, according to Israeli figures. The bombings and ground offensive since carried out by Israel in Gaza have killed at least 28,985 people, mostly women and children, according to Hamas.

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The Brazilian president also criticized recent decisions by major Western donors to suspend their funding of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, whose 12 employees Israel has accused of being involved in the Hamas attack . Brazil will increase its own contribution to the agency, said Lula, who met Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh on Saturday on the sidelines of the summit, urging other countries to do the same.

“When I see rich countries announcing that they are stopping contributing to humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, I imagine the extent of the political consciousness of these people and the spirit of solidarity that animates them,” he said. he quipped. “We need to stop being small when we need to be big.” He reiterated his call for a settlement of the conflict based on the coexistence of two States, with Palestine “definitively recognized as a sovereign State in its own right”.