DUBAI, April 25. /TASS/. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani urged BRICS member states to focus their efforts to stop the hostilities and attack on civilian targets in the Gaza Strip.
"BRICS countries must focus their political will to make sure that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip cease completely," he said during the meeting of BRICS deputy foreign ministers and special representatives on the Middle East and Northern Africa in Moscow, according to IRNA.
He urged BRICS to facilitate "prompt delivery of humanitarian aid, food, medical aid and equipment" to the Palestinian enclave. He also called for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.
"In over six months since the [Israeli] attack on the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian situation in the enclave reached the most critical state," he added.
He noted that over 34,000 Palestinians have been killed during this period, two thirds of them being women and children, while 70% of civilian infrastructure has been destroyed or damaged.
This is the first time that Iran takes part in talks of this format after joining BRICS on January1, 2024. According to IRNA, Bagheri Kani discussed the agenda points with Russian Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.
Since its foundation in 2006, BRICS had two waves of expansion. In 2011, the original founders - Brazil, Russia, India and China - were joined by South Africa. On January 1, 2024, Iran, together with Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia, has become a full-fledged BRICS member state.
The situation in the Middle East escalated sharply on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Hamas radical Palestinian movement staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children and seniors. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, and has been delivering air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported on the West Bank. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, over 34,300 Palestinians have been killed and almost 77,300 injured since October 7, 2023.