Brazil's Lula accuses Israel of 'genocide' in Gaza

Brazilian President accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, Netanyahu calls comments "shameful," Lula compares Israel’s actions to Hitler's.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva accused Israel on Sunday of committing "genocide" against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and compared its actions to Adolf Hitler's campaign to exterminate Jews.

In response, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the 78-year-old President's comments "shameful and grave" and said his government had called in Brazil's Ambassador in protest.

Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit, that what was happening in the Gaza Strip "isn't a war, it's a genocide".

"It's not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It's a war between a highly prepared Army and women and children," added the veteran leftist.

"What's happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn't happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews."

Lula, a prominent voice for the global south whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the G-20, previously condemned Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel as a "terrorist" act.

But he has since grown vocally critical of Israel's retaliatory military campaign.