BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday called for negotiators to reach a quick and unconditional ceasefire to end the 22-month-old war in Gaza.
“We exhort the parties to engage in good faith in further negotiations to achieve an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire,” the 11-nation bloc said in a final summit statement.
The BRICS also called for a “full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and all other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
The bloc’s statement came as Gaza truce talks between Israel and Hamas resumed in Doha, and as pressure mounted to end the war, which began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
Gaza truce talks to resume in Doha before Netanyahu heads to US
The BRICS gathering includes Israel’s arch foe Iran, but also nations like Russia, which have close ties with the country.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due to visit the White House on Monday for talks with US President Donald Trump, who is pushing to end the war and has said he hopes for a ceasefire deal in the coming week.