The Hamas Movement has welcomed the final declaration of the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro, which called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and demanded the complete withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from all Palestinian territories.

In a statement issued on Monday, Hamas praised the stance taken by the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—describing it as a powerful message of solidarity with the Palestinian people and a rejection of Israel’s ongoing war crimes in Gaza.

“We welcome the final statement of the BRICS summit and its call for a ceasefire in Gaza, the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces, and its condemnation of violations of international humanitarian law, including the use of starvation as a method of warfare,” the Movement stated.

Hamas urged BRICS member states and the international community at large to intensify pressure on the Israeli regime to comply with international law and halt its genocidal war on the people of Gaza. The group also demanded an end to the inhumane blockade imposed on the enclave, where more than two million people are living under siege with little access to food, water, or medicine.

The declaration, issued at the conclusion of the BRICS summit hosted by Brazil on July 6–7, emphasized that Gaza is “an inseparable part of Palestine” and called for the “full and unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and all occupied Palestinian territories.”

The joint statement denounced the widespread use of collective punishment, starvation, and siege as tools of war, describing these as blatant violations of international humanitarian law. The leaders called for urgent global action to ensure sustained humanitarian aid to Gaza and the protection of Palestinian civilians from ongoing massacres.

The BRICS call comes amid mounting international condemnation of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which has left the coastal enclave in ruins. Since the beginning of the aggression on October 7, 2023, Israel—with full political and military backing from the United States—has waged what many experts and international legal bodies now describe as a genocide.

More than 193,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in the onslaught, most of them women and children. Over 10,000 people remain missing under the rubble, while hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced. A man-made famine, exacerbated by the Israeli siege, has claimed the lives of dozens of children and continues to threaten hundreds of thousands more.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a vocal critic of Israel’s actions, used the BRICS platform to call out the international community’s silence.

“We cannot continue ignoring the genocide being committed by Israel in Gaza, the massacres of innocent civilians, and the use of hunger as a weapon of war,” Lula said in his opening speech.

Earlier in February 2024, President Lula sparked global debate after comparing Israel’s assault on Gaza to the Holocaust, stating: “What the State of Israel is doing is not a war, it is genocide, because it is killing women and children.”

Despite global condemnation and multiple rulings from the International Court of Justice demanding an end to the assault, Israel’s war on Gaza continues unabated. The Strip remains under a total siege, with humanitarian conditions rapidly deteriorating.

Hospitals have been bombed, food convoys turned back, and water infrastructure deliberately targeted. Aid agencies warn that time is running out for Gaza’s children, who face death by starvation, disease, or bombardment.

As the humanitarian catastrophe deepens, the BRICS bloc’s call for justice and accountability stands as a rare voice of international moral clarity—urging the world to end its complicity and take action to halt the bloodshed in Gaza. (ILKHA)