Lula da Silva accused Israel of carrying out terrorist attacks in the Gaza Strip

Brazilian President Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing terrorist attacks against innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip, equating the actions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the Israeli Defense Forces to the brutal acts committed by Hamas in the September 7 attack on civilians. Lula made the dramatic announcement early Tuesday at Brasilia International Airport while receiving 32 Brazilians and their families rescued from the Gaza Strip after intense and tense negotiations with Israel.

“In my 78 years, I have seen a lot of cruelty, a lot of violence, I have seen a lot of irrationality, but I have never seen such brutal, inhumane violence against innocent people. terrorist act and did what it did, the State of Israel also commits terrorist acts without taking into account that children, without taking into account that women do not fight, without taking into account that they (children and women) do not kill soldiers “Lula da Silva said, clearly emotional and indignant.

Since the beginning of the widespread conflict between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip, Lula has criticized both the brutality of the October 7 attacks carried out by the extremist Palestinian group against Israeli civilians and the Israeli military’s response to that brutality. , but avoided harsher statements while awaiting the withdrawal of Brazilians trapped in the war in the enclave from the Gaza Strip. But as the plane of the President of the Republic, which he had sent to help the Brazilians, took off from Cairo airport, from where the group finally managed to escape, Lula raised his tone and already on Monday afternoon declared that Israel’s actions compared this country with the brutality of Hamas, causing the Israeli The Brazilian Confederation issued a statement rejecting the phrase, which it considered “very dangerous.”

Still at the airport, the veteran Brazilian leader recalled that, according to Palestinian authorities, Israel’s military response had already killed at least five thousand children and left another 1,500 missing. According to Lula, these missing innocent children are most likely under the rubble of buildings destroyed by the bombs fired by Israel, which reduced the Gaza Strip and the life its inhabitants had built through decades of countless sacrifices to dust.

“Of course, these missing children are in the midst of ruins, the destruction of everything that people have built over decades. A house, a street, a building, a school, a hospital, and then it all explodes with a simple bomb.” -Added the head of state.

The 32 Brazilians, rescued after intense pressure from the Brazilian government, will stay for two days at a Brazilian Air Force hotel in Brasilia to receive medical care, physical recovery, food and updated documents, before each going their separate ways. they prefer. Those who have relatives in Brazil will go to their family home, while those who have no one will be sent to a shelter in the interior of the state of São Paulo, where they will remain until, with the support of federal and regional authorities, they able to integrate and continue life on their own.