BRICS member countries call for humanitarian truce in Gaza

LONDON. Nov 21 (Interfax) - BRICS nations have called for a humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip following an extraordinary meeting of the organization's leaders and "the leaders of invited BRICS members on the situation in the Middle East with particular reference to Gaza."

"We called for an immediate, durable, and sustained humanitarian truce leading to a cessation of hostilities," BRICS member nations said in a statement following the summit on Tuesday.

The summit's participants "emphasized the importance of preventing further destabilization of the situation." They called on all the parties to display restraint. BRICS leaders have urged the sides that have influence on Israel and the Palestinians to help prevent the conflict from expanding.

"We reaffirmed that a just and lasting solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict can only be achieved by peaceful means. The Chair joined the international community to support direct negotiations [...] towards the two-state solution, leading to the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable State of Palestine," the statement says.

BRICS nations called all the parties to immediately release all the civilians being "illegally held captive," and condemned "the forced transfer or deportation of the Palestinians, whether inside Gaza or to neighboring countries."

In their joint statement, BRICS leaders condemned acts of violence against Palestinian and Israeli civilians, "including war crimes," and pointed to the need to ensure that "independent and transparent investigations are conducted in accordance with international standards."

The summit's participants also expressed concern over "the dire humanitarian situation" in the Gaza Strip and noted the importance of facilitating humanitarian aid deliveries.

Earlier on Tuesday, BRICS leaders held an extraordinary meeting by video link-up to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip.