At UNGA, Lula says Gaza war is ‘genocide’ and destruction of Palestinian statehood dream
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva used his address to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Monday to deliver a sharp denunciation of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, calling it “genocide” and an assault on the Palestinians’ aspirations for statehood.
Lula said the scale of the destruction in Gaza had left no doubt about the severity of the crisis.
“There is no more appropriate word to describe what is happening in Gaza than genocide,” Lula said, in one of the most forceful condemnations of Israel heard so far during the high-stakes debate in New York.
The Brazilian leader announced that his country would formally join the case brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice, which alleges that Israel is committing genocide. This, after a UN commission formally concluded the Israel’s war in Gaza is genocide.
“The right of defence does not authorise the indiscriminate killing of civilians,” Lula said. He stressed that Brazil had condemned Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel but argued that they could not justify the destruction of entire neighbourhoods or the mass killing of children.
Citing figures from the war, Lula said more than 50,000 children had been killed or maimed and 90% of homes in Gaza destroyed. He also accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war.
“Half a million Palestinians do not have enough food — more than the population of Miami or Tel Aviv,” he said.
Lula framed the war not only as a regional crisis but also as a test of the international system itself. The conflict, he said, had become “the paramount symbol of the obstacles faced by multilateralism,” with the veto power at the Security Council paralysing meaningful action.
Palestinians have also been denied the basic pillars of statehood — territory, population and government — through occupation, displacement and the destruction of institutions, according to Lula.
He described the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank as part of a pattern that amounted to “ethnic cleansing in real time.” He called for the creation of a new UN body, modelled on the Special Committee against Apartheid, to advance Palestinian self-determination.
“Ensuring dialogue for Palestinian self-determination is an act of justice and an essential step to restore the strength of multilateralism and to recover our collective sense of humanity,” Lula said.
His speech came during a high-level meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, where French President Emmanuel Macron announced France’s recognition of a Palestinian state. Other countries including Australia, Canada, Belgium and Malta have also taken that step in recent days, joining Brazil, which recognised Palestine in 2010.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel began its military campaign in Gaza last October, according to local health officials. Israel rejects accusations of genocide and says its offensive is aimed at eliminating Hamas, which it designates as a terrorist organisation.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
