Johannesburg, Nov 21 (EFE).- The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, asked today at a meeting of the group of emerging economies BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) to act to prevent the war of the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Islamic movement Hamas spread to other countries.
“We must act to prevent the war from spreading to neighboring countries,” said the president in an extraordinary virtual meeting convened by the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, whose country chairs the BRICS this year, to analyze the Gaza crisis.
“The contribution of the BRICS, in its new configuration, together with all the actors in favor of self-control and de-escalation, is valuable and essential,” said Lula, referring to the expansion of the bloc agreed this August in Johannesburg, which included Saudi Arabia. Saudi, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
The South American president stressed that “Brazil does not believe that peace is achieved only by force of arms.”
“We have a long national experience that reinforces our faith in the peace created by a fair diplomatic negotiation,” he said.
However, “these barbaric acts do not justify the use of indiscriminate and disproportionate force against civilians,” Lula stressed, asserting that “we are facing a humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza.
He also stressed that the current war “is the result of decades of frustration and injustice, represented by the absence of a safe home for the Palestinian people.”
“The recognition of a viable Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel, with secure and mutually recognized borders, is the only possible solution. We need to resume the peace process between Israel and Palestine as soon as possible,” he demanded.
The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are expected to participate in the BRICS meeting, along with those of Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7 following an attack by the Islamist group that included rocket fire and the infiltration of some 3,000 militants who massacred some 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 240 in Israeli villages near the Gaza Strip. .
Israel’s air, naval and land forces have since counterattacked the Palestinian enclave, where there are already more than 13,300 dead, most of them children and women, as well as more than 6,500 missing people who could be under the rubble, so the number of fatalities could be even higher.
Added to this are tens of thousands of injured, as well as more than 1.7 million displaced people – more than two thirds of the total population – who live in the midst of a serious humanitarian crisis due to the shortage of water, food, electricity, medicines and fuel. EFE
jhb-pa/ad
(Photo / Video)
The post first appeared on www.infobae.com