Barring India, BRICS seeks immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, November 21

Barring India, the rest of BRICS leaders on Tuesday called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at an emergency summit of the five-member grouping. Leaders of other countries that are poised to join BRICS also spoke at the virtual summit that was chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Must restart negotiations

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PM Modi has highlighted the need to create conditions for peace and restart direct and meaningful peace negotiations. We believe that the concerns of Palestinians should be addressed seriously. This can happen only with a two-state solution. S Jaishankar, eam

Meanwhile, a delegation of Foreign Ministers from the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation are scheduled to visit India after touring China and Russia to seek an immediate ceasefire. The observation was made after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted a meeting in Moscow on Tuesday, reported RIA news agency. The Ministers had met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday.

Opening the meeting, Ramaphosa accused Israel of war crimes and actions “tantamount to genocide”. South Africa has recalled its envoy to Tel Aviv and has also asked Israel to do the same in protest against the unabated bombing of Gaza.

Chinese President Xi Jinping made three proposals on the Palestinian-Israeli issue, calling for an “immediate ceasefire”, a stop to all violence and attacks targeting civilians, and release of civilian detainees to avoid more loss of lives and suffering.