Israel was hit by an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, with Hamas movement's troops infiltrating border areas. On October 8, the Israeli government announced that it had invoked Article 40 of the Basic Law, which means the country was officially in a state of war.

BRICS Calls for Humanitarian Truce in Gaza Strip Leading to Cessation of Hostilities

17:23, 21 November 2023

Rasina Musallimova

Writer

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On Tuesday, BRICS leaders gathered on an extraordinary summit to discuss the situation in Gaza amid the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which flared up on October 7 with the Hamas' large-scale rocket attack on Israel and the Israeli retaliatory attack on Palestine.

Sputnik

The BRICS countries called for humanitarian truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip leading to a cessation of hostilities during an extraordinary summit on Tuesday.

"We called for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities," BRICS said in a joint communique.

The BRICS leaders also reiterated commitment to the peaceful resolution of all disputes and differences and declared their support to the peaceful settlement of crises.

"Acts of violence aimed at Palestinian and Israeli civilians were condemned, including war crimes, indiscriminate attacks and targeting of civilian infrastructure, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement, and destruction [...]. We stressed the need to pursue accountability. We must ensure that independent and transparent investigations are conducted in accordance with international standards," the joint communique read.

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The BRICS leaders also voiced concern over escalation of violence and deterioration of situation in the Middle East.

"We condemned any kind of individual or mass forcible transfer and deportation of Palestinians from their own land. Many Leaders reiterated that the forced transfer and deportation of Palestinians, whether inside Gaza or to neighbouring countries, constitute grave breaches of the Geneva conventions and war crimes and violations under International Humanitarian Law," the statement said.

In addition, the bloc's member states called for humanitarian truce between Israel and the Gaza Strip leading to a cessation of hostilities.

"We called for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities," the document read.

Moreover, the member states of the organization said that it is important to prevent the spillover of the crisis in the region, and called on countries that have influence on the parties of the conflict to use it to "work towards this objective."

During the meeting, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa called for the deployment of a UN Rapid Deployment Force in Palestine to monitor the cessation of hostilities between Israel and armed Palestinian groups.

In his turn, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country will initiate contacts on the settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict during its upcoming BRICS presidency.