Moscow [Russia], November 21 : Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday called on the international community to join forces to find a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Russian State media reported.
"Russia's position is consistent and does not change with the situation. We urge the international community to join forces in order to ease tensions, ensure a ceasefire and find a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," TASS quoted Putin as saying.
Putin made the remarks at an extraordinary virtual summit of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group.
"BRICS nations and the countries of the region could play a key role in this work," Putin said, adding, "This is why the participation of our colleagues from the Middle East in today's meeting, who were invited to join BRICS as full members earlier in the year, is particularly important."
"I would like to use this opportunity to respectfully commend their efforts to improve the situation, particularly by holding the Peace Summit in Egypt and the extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit in Saudi Arabia," the Russian President added, according to TASS.
He stressed that "all BRICS countries share similar positions on the need to make joint efforts to find a long-term and sustainable solution to the prolonged Israeli-Palestinian issue".
"This became evident in the UN General Assembly's vote on a draft resolution on a humanitarian ceasefire, as well as in discussions of a UN Security Council resolution on the Middle East settlement, which was adopted for the first time in seven years," he said, adding, "Even though the resolution only calls for humanitarian pauses and not for a ceasefire, we see its adoption as a step in the right direction."
Putin further stressed that "while a full ceasefire would be better, such humanitarian pauses are required for efforts to release hostages and evacuate civilians and foreign nationals from the Gaza Strip".
The Russian leader also emphasised the need to achieve lasting peace in West Asia and prevent the conflict from expanding, as reported by TASS.
"By and large, ensuring a long-term and sustainable ceasefire is certainly the most pressing goal," Putin said, adding, "It is important to stop other countries from being dragged into the war in the Middle East and prevent the conflict from expanding, as well as to preserve the fragile interfaith peace."
The leaders of the BRICS countries joined the meeting along with their counterparts from newly added member states.
At least 12,700 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, according to figures from the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the West Bank, which draws its data from Hamas-run health authorities in Gaza.
In Israel, the official death toll from Hamas's attacks stands at about 1,200.
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