Brics leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro have called for negotiators to reach a quick and unconditional ceasefire to end the 22-month-old conflict in Gaza, AFP reports.

“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”.

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