South Africa hosts BRICS summit to discuss Israel-Hamas war

BRICS group of nations will discuss Tuesday the Israel-Hamas war and are expected to issue a joint statement with particular reference to Gaza.

The virtual summit of the BRICS member nations is being hosted by South Africa President Cyril Ramaphosa in the hope of drawing up a common response to the more than six-week Israel-Hamas conflict.

Who will attend BRICS meet on Israel-Hamas war?

Apart from member nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - the virtual summit will be attended by leaders Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - who are all due to join the BRICS group in January 2024.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will also participate in the Tuesday’s “Extraordinary Joint Meeting on the Middle East Situation in Gaza”, the South African presidency said in a statement.

Israel-Hamas war update

Fighting is raging in Gaza after a shock Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with around 240 people taken hostage, according to Israeli officials.

In Gaza, around 13,300 people, more than 5,500 of them children, have been killed in the retaliatory air and ground offensive, officials in the Hamas-run territory have said.

South Africa has long been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party often linking it to its own struggle against apartheid.

Last Thursday, the ANC said it would support a parliamentary motion to suspend diplomatic relations with Israel until it agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza, decrying the “genocidal actions of the Israeli regime”.

On Friday, South Africa joined four other nations in calling for an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into the Israel-Hamas war.

China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinians and supportive of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Beijing has been calling for an immediate ceasefire since the start of the war last month.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of stoking tensions in the Middle East, and criticised Israel for its conduct in the conflict.

Putin skipped the last BRICS annual summit in Johannesburg as he is the target of an ICC arrest warrant – a provision that South Africa as an ICC member would be expected to implement if he were to set foot in the country.

With inputs from AFP