Egypt, Brazil to Advocate for Southern Countries' Interests

Egyptian and Brazilian presidents stressed the urgency of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian and Brazilian presidents stressed the urgency of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. (Egyptian Presidency)
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Egypt, Brazil to Advocate for Southern Countries' Interests

Egyptian and Brazilian presidents stressed the urgency of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. (Egyptian Presidency)
Egyptian and Brazilian presidents stressed the urgency of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. (Egyptian Presidency)

An Egyptian-Brazilian summit convened in Cairo on Thursday to deliberate on mutual coordination within international spheres, focusing on collaborative efforts to reform the global governance framework for equitable representation of Southern countries' interests.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi received his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Al Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo.
Egypt's presidential spokesman, Ahmad Fahmy, said that the talks tackled bilateral ties, Brazil’s presiding over G20 this year, and Egypt's invitation as a guest to the group's meetings.
Lula was on an official state visit to Cairo, celebrating 100 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. It was his second visit to Egypt, the first having been in 2003.
They witnessed the signing of several agreements in sciences, technology, and agriculture.
“We have agreed to bolster our bilateral relations in all political, economic, industrial, agricultural, and cultural fields,” Sisi said during a joint press conference with his Brazilian counterpart.
Both sides, he added, agreed to set up a joint committee to coordinate the areas and goals of their bilateral ties.
Strategic Partnership
After talks with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo, the Brazilian President said he wanted relations between the two countries to be elevated to a “strategic partnership.”
Lula said the admission of Egypt as a member of BRICS represents a milestone in effective collaboration between emerging economies.
He said Egypt and Brazil will work on "reforming international governance and building peace" in the framework of BRICS and urged for a multilateral world with fair development opportunities for developing states.
In January, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Iran, UAE, and Ethiopia joined the BRICS, comprising Russia, Brazil, China, India, and South Africa.
Gaza
Meanwhile, the Brazilian President urged the UN to reach a ceasefire deal in the Gaza Strip.
Lula da Silva said the UN lacks sufficient power to stop the war in Gaza, noting that "Israel has violated all resolutions, laws, and international norms in its aggression against the strip."
Lula said there would not be peace without the establishment of a Palestinian state.
According to remarks provided to the Middle East News Agency, Mai Taha Khalil, Egypt's Ambassador to Brazil, asserted that this visit signifies Brazil's acknowledgment of Egypt's endeavors towards fostering stability and security in the Arab and African regions.
The Egyptian ambassador highlighted Brazil's recognition of Egyptian mediation efforts in facilitating a ceasefire in the Strip and securing the release of hostages.

 

 



Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Live-streamed Genocide' against Gaza Palestinians

TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Amnesty Accuses Israel of 'Live-streamed Genocide' against Gaza Palestinians

TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
TOPSHOT - Palestinians inspect the damage after an Israeli strike on the Yafa school building, a school-turned-shelter, in Gaza City on April 23, 2025. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Israel of committing a "live-streamed genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza by forcibly displacing most of the population and deliberately creating a humanitarian catastrophe.

In its annual report, Amnesty charged that Israel had acted with "specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, thus committing genocide".

Israel has rejected accusations of "genocide" from Amnesty, other rights groups and some states in its war in Gaza.

The conflict erupted after the Palestinian group Hamas's deadly October 7, 2023 attacks inside Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Hamas also abducted 251 people, 58 of whom are still held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel in response launched a relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip and a ground operation that according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory has left at least 52,243 dead.

"Since 7 October 2023, when Hamas perpetrated horrific crimes against Israeli citizens and others and captured more than 250 hostages, the world has been made audience to a live-streamed genocide," Amnesty's secretary general Agnes Callamard said in the introduction to the report.

"States watched on as if powerless, as Israel killed thousands upon thousands of Palestinians, wiping out entire multigenerational families, destroying homes, livelihoods, hospitals and schools," she added.

'Extreme levels of suffering'

Gaza's civil defense agency said early Tuesday that four people were killed and others injured in an Israeli air strike on displaced persons' tents near the Al-Iqleem area in Southern Gaza.

The agency earlier warned fuel shortages meant it had been forced to suspend eight out of 12 emergency vehicles in Southern Gaza, including ambulances.

The lack of fuel "threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands of citizens and displaced persons in shelter centers," it said in a statement.

Amnesty's report said the Israeli campaign had left most of the Palestinians of Gaza "displaced, homeless, hungry, at risk of life-threatening diseases and unable to access medical care, power or clean water".

Amnesty said that throughout 2024 it had "documented multiple war crimes by Israel, including direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects, and indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks".

It said Israel's actions forcibly displaced 1.9 million Palestinians, around 90 percent of Gaza's population, and "deliberately engineered an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe".

Even as protesters hit the streets in Western capitals, "the world's governments individually and multilaterally failed repeatedly to take meaningful action to end the atrocities and were slow even in calling for a ceasefire".

Meanwhile, Amnesty also sounded alarm over Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, and repeated an accusation that Israel was employing a system of "apartheid".

"Israel's system of apartheid became increasingly violent in the occupied West Bank, marked by a sharp increase in unlawful killings and state-backed attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinian civilians," it said.

Heba Morayef, Amnesty director for the Middle East and North Africa region, denounced "the extreme levels of suffering that Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to endure on a daily basis over the past year" as well as "the world's complete inability or lack of political will to put a stop to it".