President Cyril Ramaphosa will convene an emergency BRICS meeting to discuss the crisis in Gaza, where thousands of people have been killed.

The new BRICS members—Saudi Arabia, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Argentina—will join the meeting on Tuesday.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman recently hosted African leaders in Riyadh, where they condemned the attacks on civilians by Israel in Gaza.

However, Ramaphosa will hold urgent talks on the crisis in Gaza with fellow BRICS leaders and six new members.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres will also join the leaders of BRICS on Tuesday. President Xi Jinping of China, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, will be part of the meeting, where they will also deliver remarks.

This will be a virtual meeting of the BRICS leaders.

Israel has come under fire from regional blocs and various countries for its attacks on Gaza.

More than 12,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

South Africa, Djibouti, the Comoros, Bangladesh, and Bolivia submitted a joint referral to the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni on Monday accused the ICC of dragging its feet to probe the case. This follows the investigation that began in 2021 into Palestine.

She said they wanted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior officials to be charged before the meeting of state parties in mid-December.

siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za

Politics