ISLAMABAD: BRICS leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday urged the negotiators to reach a quick and unconditional ceasefire to end the 22-month-old war in Gaza.
“We exhort the parties to engage in good faith in further negotiations to achieve an immediate, permanent and unconditional ceasefire,” the 11-nation bloc said in a final summit statement.
The BRICS also called for a “full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and all other parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”
The statement came as ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas resumed in Doha, amid growing international pressure to end the war that began on October 7, 2023.
According to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 57,418 people, the vast majority of them civilians. The United Nations has deemed these figures credible.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit the White House on Monday for talks with US President Donald Trump, who is pushing to end the conflict and has expressed hope for a ceasefire agreement within the coming week.
BRICS condemns the military strikes against Iran
The group also strongly condemned recent Israeli and US air strikes on Iran’s military, nuclear, and other facilities.
“We condemn the military strikes against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 13 June 2025, which constitute a violation of international law,” leaders said in a summit statement, without naming the United States or Israel by name.
Trump’s tariffs
The group warned that US President Donald Trump’s “indiscriminate” import tariffs risked hurting the global economy.
“We voice serious concerns about the rise of unilateral tariff and non-tariff measures which distort trade and are inconsistent with WTO rules,” the statement said.
BRICS described such tariffs as illegal and arbitrary, threatening to “further reduce global trade, disrupt global supply chains, and introduce uncertainty into international economic and trade activities.”
The 11 emerging economies — including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — account for roughly half of the global population and 40 percent of the world’s economic output.
