One of Obama’s top officials gave a speech earlier this week where he heaped praise on Abbas for being “committed to non-violence and co-existence and cooperation with Israel,” during the same address he ripped Israel for “dehumanizing” the Palestinians.

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called Israel’s expanded operation in Gaza a “genocide.”

“It’s genocide — the killing of entire families is genocide by Israel against our Palestinian people,” he told a meeting of the Palestinian leadership at his headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah, the French news agency AFP reported.

“What’s happening now is a war against the Palestinian people as a whole and not against” terrorist groups, Abbas said at the meeting held to discuss responses to Israel’s Operation Protective Edge, according to AFP. “We know that Israel is not defending itself, it is defending settlements, its main project.”

Abbas said the Palestinians had approached Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to convince Israel to halt its operation.