According to The Times of Israel, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians yet again.

Last week, he sparked uproar by equating Israel’s conflict with the Hamas terror group in Gaza to the Holocaust, “when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

However, Israel denied the genocide charges, claiming that their battle against the “Palestinian terror group” Hamas, not the Palestinian people, follows the October 7 slaughter in southern Israel.

According to The Times of Israel, it has held Hamas responsible for civilian casualties and accused the terror group of operating from civilian neighbourhoods with the local population serving as human shields.

Brazil’s President Lula stated on social media on Saturday that he will not sacrifice his “dignity for falsehood.”

“What the Israeli government is doing is not war, but genocide. Children and women are

Notably, Israel has been fighting Hamas in reaction to the worst attack on its soil, when thousands of Hamas terrorists crossed the border on October 7 and killed over 1,200 people, largely civilians, in acts of cruelty and sexual violence, according to The Times of Israel.

They also kidnapped 253 Israeli civilians into Gaza, with more than 100 being held captive — some of them dead — following a temporary truce in late November that liberated 105 hostages.

Throughout the ongoing war, Israel has repeatedly claimed that Hamas is using Palestinian civilians as human shields by locating operations bases under hospitals, launching rockets from schools and shelters, building tunnel shafts under children’s bedrooms, storing weapons in and around schools and mosques, and so on.

Furthermore, captured Hamas militants have validated some of the human shield assertions, stating that they are aware that Israel will not attack hospitals, medical centres, or institutions.

Israel has also stated that the battle will cease if Hamas free the remaining hostages and surrenders, according to The Times of Israel.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to Lula’s previous remarks, saying, “The words of the President of Brazil are disgusting and alarming. This is a trivialization of the Holocaust and an attempt to undermine the Jewish people and Israel’s right to self-defense.”

“Israel is fighting for its defence and securing its future until complete victory and it does so while upholding international law,” he went on to say.

Furthermore, Foreign Minister Israel Katz described the comments as “shameful and grave.”

It is worth noting that South Africa filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice last month, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza and requesting that the court order Israel to cease hostilities.

According to The Times of Israel, the litigation is expected to endure several years.

The court denied South Africa’s request to take immediate action to stop Israel’s campaign, but said there was “plausibility” to Pretoria’s claim that Israel was violating certain aspects of the Genocide Convention during the war and that Jerusalem must make efforts to protect civilians.