Colombia's President Gustavo Petro accuses Israel of 'genocide' amid brutal Gaza violence

The Colombian president critiqued Israel in a post he shared on platform X. In his comments, Gustavo Petro extended "full solidarity" with President Lula da Silva of Brazil.

"There is the occurrence of genocide in Gaza. Tens of thousands of children, women and older people are being brutally killed. Lula simply spoke the truth. We must either defend the truth or allow barbarism to annihilate us," Petro wrote.

While addressing the African Union summit in Ethiopia on Sunday, Lula commented, "The situation in the Gaza Strip, affecting the Palestinian people, is unprecedented in other historical epochs. Indeed, a similar event occurred when Hitler decided to exterminate the Jews."

This provocative statement from Lula elicited a strong response from Israel, with their Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, announcing on Monday that the president of Brazil will be persona non grata in Israel unless she retracts her comment.

Even though Lula condemned Hamas when its members, in an attack on October 7, killed at least 1200 people in Israel and took 253 hostages, comprising children and the elderly, he also criticised Israel's retaliatory military campaign. According to the health department run by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, this campaign resulted in over 29,000 casualties.

Israel estimates that about 12,000 out of this total were Palestinian terrorists who died whilst armed. Hamas itself acknowledges the loss of approximately 6,000 fighters.