Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza as a "massacre."
She adjoined an international call for a holt of the bloodshed.
Rousseff mentioned this at a forum organized by newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, endorsing the United Nations' call for an immediate ceasefire, Times of India Reported.
She termmed the bloodshed as massacr rather than genocide saying,"What's happening in Gaza is dangerous. I don't think it's a genocide, but I think it's a massacre."
"It's a humanitarian issue. This can't be done in such a small strip (of territory), with people who are in a situation of great insecurity, very threatened, with many women and children," President added. "We know that in a war like this, the ones who pay are the civilians." She criticized the Israeli campaign as "disproportionate" — echoing a statement released by the Brazilian foreign ministry last week when it recalled its ambassador to Israel, a move that caused a row between the two countries. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor responded by calling Brazil a "diplomatic dwarf." "I regret those words," Rousseff said. "Words, including the spokesman's, sometimes create a very bad climate. In this case, we have to be very careful." More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in three weeks of devastating violence in and around Gaza since Israel launched its offensive, which it says aims to put a stop to Palestinian rocket fire.
