IBSA nations strongly condemn Israeli attacks against Gaza

Foreign ministers of IBSA (India Brazil and South Africa) strongly criticised Israel’s attacks against Gaza on Friday (September 26, 2025), according to the joint statement of their meeting along the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. India was represented by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar at the meet.

In a move similar to that of the BRICS group of emerging markets, IBSA countries also criticised unilateral tariffs and other such protectionist measures.

The ministers “strongly condemned the Israeli attacks against Gaza, which, after almost two years, continue to cause unprecedented suffering to the civilian population of the territory, ravaged by deaths, destruction, forced displacement, and famine”, the document said.

The ministers affirmed that the Gaza Strip was part of the Occupied Palestinian Territory and stressed the need to unify the West Bank and Gaza Strip under the Palestinian Authority. They called for a full ceasefire, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory, the unhindered delivery of aid to Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages (which were captured by military group Hamas in October 2023, setting off the current phase of the conflict).

The group criticised violations of international human rights law – noting that using starvation as a method of warfare was also a violation. Israel has persistently restricted food and other humanitarian supplies reaching Gaza over the months and more than half a million people are in famine conditions according to recent estimates.

Some of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s allies have called for annexing the West Bank.

IBSA ministers condemned such statements on Friday.

“They expressed concern at the provocative statement regarding plans for the imposition of Israeli sovereignty over the Occupied West Bank and the intensification of settlement activity in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.”

The joint statement reiterated the group’s support for a rules-based trading system with the WTO and its core. Two of the three IBSA countries – India and Brazil face unusually high tariffs for their exports to the U.S. (50% for most goods). The ministers said they were seriously concerned about unilateral tariff and other protectionist measures, especially when used as a means of coercion. South Africa faces a 30% U.S. tariff and its president , Cyril Ramaphosa, told the UN days ago that trade was being used as a weapon against a number of countries.

“ IBSA made a strong call for the transformative reform of the UNSC. Discussions also on IBSA Academic Forum, maritime exercise, Trust Fund and intra-IBSA trade,”  Mr Jaishankar wrote on X.

On Ukraine, the IBSA joint statement called for called for de-escalation by all parties, as it noted that countries in the Global South may have relevant perspectives to offer.

The countries called for the reform of multilateral institutions – including the United Nations, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. They affirmed their support for permanent membership to the UN Security Council for India, Brazil and African countries.

Apart from the IBSA meeting and meetings with other foreign ministers,  the External Affairs Minister and his Colombian counterpart, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, co-chaired an India- CELAC ( the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) meeting on Friday

The countries concurred on the urgent need to reform multilateral institutions so they better represent the Global South, Mr Jaishankar wrote on X.

They group and India also agreed, as per the minister, to strengthen cooperation in AI, tech, health and humanitarian and disaster relief efforts.

On the Pahalgam attack

IBSA Ministers condemned “the gruesome killing” of civilians in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir in April and rejected terrorism in all forms. They called for finalising a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism within the framework of the UN General Assembly. India has advocated for concluding such a convention since it introduced the discussion at the UN in 1996.

The Ministers called for action against UN-listed terrorists and groups including Al-Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), their facilitators and proxy groups.