Brazil's Lula calls for ceasefire, humanitarian intervention in Israel-Palestinian conflict

SAO PAULO: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday called for a ceasefire and an "international humanitarian intervention" in the conflict between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories so that human rights violations can be put to an end.

"An international humanitarian intervention is urgently needed," Lula wrote on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "A ceasefire is urgently needed in defense of Israeli and Palestinian children."

Lula said that militant Islamist group Hamas should release Israeli children "kidnapped from their families", while calling on Israel to stop bombings to allow Palestinian children and their mothers to leave the Gaza Strip and cross the border with Egypt.

The leftist leader added that Brazil, which currently holds the presidency of the U.N. Security Council, would join efforts to bring the conflict to an immediate and definitive end.