UAE calls for 'immediate, lasting' cease-fire in Gaza

ISTANBUL

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) called Monday for an immediate and lasting cease-fire in the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli offensive on the Palestinian enclave.

Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed made the call during his speech before a meeting of the BRICS group of major emerging economies in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, according to a statement by the Gulf country's Foreign Ministry.

The UAE officially joined the economic bloc last August.

Bin Zayed also called for a "rapid and unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid to those in need, as well as the release of all hostages and detainees."

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire.

Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 37,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and nearly 84,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara