Israeli leaders reacted with shock and anger Sunday to comments by the president of Brazil, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva, stating that their country’s actions in Gaza amount to a “genocide” comparable to Hitler’s campaign against European Jews during World War II.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, in a social media post in Hebrew, said he and Israel’s foreign minister, Yisrael Katz, had summoned the Brazilian ambassador to the country for what he termed a “stern reprimand” over the comments.

“Comparing Israel to the Nazi Holocaust and Hitler is crossing a red line,” Mr. Netanyahu said. “Israel fights for its defense and securing its future until complete victory and it does so while upholding international law.”

Speaking to reporters at a meeting of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Mr. da Silva described the war at Gaza as being not between soldiers from opposing armies but between “a highly prepared army and women and children.”

“What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history,” Mr. da Silva, a long-time leader of Brazil’s left-wing party, added. “Actually, it has happened — when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.”

A leader of Israel’s opposition party, the centrist Yesh Atid party, Yair Lapid, also skewered the Brazilian leader’s comment on social media. In a post on X, Mr. Lapid called the comments “disgraceful,” adding “I wonder what Lula would have said if a terrorist organization had harmed Brazil” like Hamas did to Israel on October 7.

Israel’s Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, also weighed in, calling the comments outrageous and abhorrent. “President Lula supports a genocidal terrorist organization — Hamas, and in doing so brings great shame to his people and violates the values of the free world,” he said.