Egyptian, Brazilian leaders call for cease-fire in Gaza

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva on Thursday agreed on the need for an urgent cease-fire in Gaza.

In a joint news conference in Cairo, al-Sisi said: "I agreed with President Lula on the need for a cease-fire in Gaza, the release of captives and prisoners, and the entry of the largest possible amount of aid into the strip to preserve the lives of civilians," according to the Egyptian State Information Service (SIS).

It said that they also emphasized the importance of "paving the way for the post-war phase to establish a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

The Brazilian president, for his part, reiterated his country's support to South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, stressing that "lasting peace" will not be achieved without the existence of the Palestinian state within agreed and recognized borders.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, killing at least 28,576 people and injuring 68,291 others, while nearly 1,200 Israelis are believed to have been killed in the Hamas attack.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered it to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.