Brazil's President Lula says Israel response 'as grave' as Hamas attack

The president of Brazil charged on Monday that Israel was “killing innocent people without any criteria” in the Gaza Strip, calling its activities there “as grave” as the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s strikes on October 7.

“After the act of terrorism provoked by Hamas, the consequences, the solution of the state of Israel, is as grave as that of Hamas. They are killing innocent people without any criteria,” said Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at an official ceremony in Brasilia.

In addition, the head of the biggest nation in Latin America charged that Israel was “dropping bombs where there are children, hospitals, on the pretext that a terrorist is there.”

“This is inexplicable. First you have to save the women and children, then you fight with whomever you want,” Lula said.

Jewish community representatives in Brazil criticised these statements, calling them “erroneous,” “unfair,” and “dangerous,” and saying that they “put Israel and Hamas on the same level.”

They upheld the Israeli government’s “visible and proven” efforts “to save Palestinian civilians”.

“Our community expects balance from our authorities,” added the Israeli Confederation of Brazil, which claims to represent some 120,000 Brazilian Jews, the second largest community in the region, in a statement.

On October 7, Hamas fighters attacked Israel, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to the authorities.

The Israeli army estimates that some 240 people have also been taken hostage by the group.

Since then, Israel has pounded Gaza relentlessly, killing some 11,240 people, mostly civilians, including 4,630 children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry there.

Israel denies deliberately targeting hospitals. It accuses Hamas of using these facilities, or the tunnels beneath them, as hideouts, which the Islamist militant group denies.

Lula’s comments came as he welcomed to Brasilia 22 Brazilians and 10 members of their families who had been evacuated from Gaza on Sunday via the land border with Egypt, after more than a month of waiting in the conflict zone.