| The former foreign minister assessed the deaths of thousands of Palestinian children in Israeli bombings (photo: LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP) |
Brazil’s representative at the Humanitarian Aid Conference for Gaza, former foreign minister Celso Amorim, defended, this Thursday (09), a “ceasefire” and assessed that the death of thousands of children in Israeli bombings makes us think of “genocide”.
Israel launched a campaign of bombings in Gaza on October 7 in response to the attack by the Islamist movement Hamas that same day, which killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, and held around 240 hostages, according to authorities.
More than 10,000 people, most of them civilians and among them more than 4,000 children, died under Israeli bombs in Gaza Stripa small territory of 360km² where more than two million people live, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
“I reiterate Brazil’s condemnation of the terrorist attacks against Israelis and the taking of hostages. However, barbaric acts such as these do not justify the indiscriminate use of force against civilians,” Amorim said in a speech in English.
“The death of thousands of children is shocking. The word genocide inevitably comes to mind”, added the special advisor to the Brazilian Presidency during the event in Paris.
France organized this conference to bring together major donors and accelerate aid – food, energy and medical equipment – for the Gaza Stripwhich also records an exodus of its inhabitants towards the south.
The United Nations estimates that it would be necessary to raise 1.2 billion dollars (almost 6 billion reais) in aid for the populations of Gaza and the West Bank between now and the end of the year.
The former Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense defended a “humanitarian ceasefire” and that safe passages be guaranteed for the entry of humanitarian aid to hospitals and schools.
Amorim considered that the current situation is part of “a broader conflict that has lasted 75 years”, the solution of which, in his opinion, is “the recognition of a viable Palestinian state” alongside Israel “with secure and mutually acceptable borders” by both.
