Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the President of Brazil, who holds the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council, has appealed to his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to allow people in the Gaza Strip to flee to Egypt, he said on Thursday.
The recent comments by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva add Brazil to the voices of European foreign ministers and the World Health Organization that have called for the establishment of a route to either let people flee the Palestinian enclave or let humanitarian assistance flow in.
In a social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Lula said, “I recently spoke on the phone with the President of Israel Isaac Herzog. I conveyed my call for a humanitarian corridor so that people who want to leave the Gaza Strip through Egypt can be safe.”
Hamas on Saturday attacked small towns, kibbutzim, and a music festival in Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking about 150 hostages.
Israel has retaliated by showering air and artillery strikes on Gaza — a densely populated enclave of 2.3 million people — flattening buildings and killing more than 1,400 people, many of them civilians.
Israel has prepared for a potential ground attack on the Palestinian territory.
Brazil has called a meeting of the Security Council on Friday to concern the conflict.
Fellow South American leader Nicolas Maduro, of Venezuela, called on Thursday for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, after condemning what he said was a “massive violation of human rights” in Gaza.
Maduro said, “From Venezuela, we ratify our vocation of solidarity with the people of Palestine.”
