Since the escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on October 7, various countries and organizations have called for a ceasefire and put forward plans to resolve the conflict. BRICS is also actively participating in attempts to resolve the conflict peacefully: an extraordinary summit of the organization on the issue of the Middle East conflict will be held on Tuesday.
"On November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin will take part in an extraordinary BRICS summit (online) to discuss the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, the South African government said that President Cyril Ramaphosa, the bloc's 2023 chair, would convene a BRICS Extraordinary Joint Meeting on the Middle East Situation in Gaza on Tuesday. The leaders of the bloc's current member countries, newly-invited countries and UN Secretary-General António Guterres will participate in the meeting, the government said, adding that participants were expected to adopt a joint statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip at the end of the meeting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is also scheduled to participate in the meeting, the state-run China Central Television (CCTV) reported, adding that the president would deliver a speech.
The meeting will be held at the request of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Iranian news agency IRNA reported.
On October 7, Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip and breached the border, killing and abducting people in neighboring Israeli communities. Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, cutting off supplies of water, food, and fuel. On October 27, Israel launched a large-scale ground incursion inside the Gaza Strip with the declared goal of eliminating Hamas fighters and rescuing the hostages.
BRICS, established in 2009, is a group uniting the world's largest developing economies, which currently includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. In August, the 15th top-level BRICS summit in Johannesburg extended invitations to Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia to join the bloc. Their full membership is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2024.