Senior Hamas officials joined the family of Nelson Mandela to mark the 10th anniversary of his death and cast the spotlight on the bitter conflict in Gaza, AFP reports.

Hamas representatives were among Palestinians who laid a wreath when the Mandela family paid tribute at a giant statue of the anti-apartheid icon.

“We were waiting to gain first-hand experience of the daily atrocities that are being carried out in Gaza,” Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, told national broadcaster SABC.

“It was a real experience for them to be in South Africa and learn from our experience as we had to face one of the most brutal apartheid regimes on the continent and we were able to defeat it.”

South Africa has also officially called on the International Criminal Court to investigate what South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has called Israel’s “war crimes” in Gaza.