Brazil’s president accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza

Brazil’s president alleged Saturday that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians, doubling down on harsh rhetoric after stirring controversy a week earlier by comparing Israel’s military offensive in Gaza to the Nazi Holocaust.

Israel has vehemently pushed back against genocide claims, saying its war is targeting the militant group Hamas, not the Palestinian people. It has held Hamas responsible for civilian deaths, arguing that the group operates from civilian areas. The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Saturday that the bodies of 92 Palestinians killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals over the past 24 hours, raising the overall toll in nearly five months of war to 29,606. The total number of wounded rose to nearly 70,000.

The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it has said two-thirds of those killed were children and women. Israel says its troops have killed more than 10,000 Hamas fighters, but has not provided details.

Israel declared war after the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel in which militants killed about 1,200 people and took some 250 hostages. More than 100 hostages remain in captivity in Gaza.

The steadily rising civilian death toll and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza have amplified calls for a cease-fire. Hunger and infectious diseases are spreading and some 80 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced, with about 1.4 million crowded into the southern city of Rafah on the border with Egypt.

Negotiators from the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar were meeting in Paris this weekend to try to reach a deal on pausing the fighting. Egypt and Qatar serve as mediators between Israel and Hamas.