Brazil’s President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has alleged that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, after sparking controversy a week ago by equating Israel’s military incursion in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tweeted that he would not give up his “dignity for falsehood,” in apparent response to calls for him to recant his analogy to the Holocaust, which killed six million Jews during WWII.
“What the Israeli government is doing is not war, it is genocide,” he wrote on Saturday. “Children and women are being murdered.”
In response to his initial comments, Israel had declared him a persona non grata, summoned Brazil’s ambassador and demanded an apology.
In retaliation, he recalled Brazil’s ambassador to Israel for consultations.
Last month, South Africa filed a complaint with the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians.
The court issued a preliminary order in the landmark case two weeks later, ordering Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.
Israel, created in part as a refuge for survivors of the Holocaust, has accused South Africa of hypocrisy.
Tel Aviv has rejected genocide claims, saying its war is targeting the militant group Hamas, not the Palestinian people. It holds Hamas responsible for civilian deaths, arguing that the group operates from civilian areas.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza announced on Saturday that the bodies of 92 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardments had been transported to hospitals in the last 24 hours, bringing the total toll in nearly five months of war to 29,606. The overall number of wounded reached nearly 70,000.
The ministry’s death toll makes no distinction between civilians and fighters, although it does state that two-thirds of those murdered were children and women. Israel claims to have killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters.
Israel declared war following the lethal October 7 Hamas onslaught in southern Israel, in which militants killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped 250 captives. More than 100 hostages are still held in Gaza.
