From Lula to Qatar’s emir, leaders call Gaza a genocide at the UN

Several leaders at the 81st UN General Assembly described events in Gaza as genocide, with Brazil’s Lula, Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim and Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Denis Bećirović highlighting Palestinian suffering and the world’s failure to respond.

Gaza was among the dominant themes of the 81st UN General Assembly, and several leaders openly described what is happening there as genocide.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said events in Gaza amount to a genocide that will remain a stain on all of humanity. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Palestinians would carry for generations the pain and trauma of the genocide committed by the Netanyahu government against women and children in Gaza.

Denis Bećirović, chairman of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Presidency, said the world had failed to respond adequately to the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, just as it had failed during the attacks on Bosnia and Herzegovina and on Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan described Gaza as the world’s largest graveyard for children and the place with the highest rate of child amputees, while Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned that Israeli government expansionism had become a regional threat.

Vietnamese President To Lam reaffirmed support for the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and a two-state solution. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said so-called ceasefires have been little more than small-scale truces in which civilians keep paying the price.