President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for an end of the siege of Gaza reiterating that the only solution to the conflict between Palestine and Israel was a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders.
He said the National Executive Committee condemned the killing civilians by both Hamas and the Israeli Defence Force.
The bloodshed in Gaza was uncalled for, and the siege must come to an end.
The conflict has been raging for more than a week, with Israel urging Palestinians to move from the north of Gaza to the south of the strip.
But the United Nations and human rights groups have warned that the situation was getting more dire by the day as the Gaza Strip was almost on its knees with a lack of water, food, medicine, and electricity.
Israel has amassed thousands of troops on the border with Gaza ready to launch a ground invasion in its fight with Hamas.
Ramaphosa, who was addressing the last day of the NEC meeting in Gauteng on Monday evening, said the time has come for both sides to start negotiations.
There will be no victorious side, as all conflicts end up on the negotiating table.
Ramaphosa said they support a two-state solution, as proposed by the United Nations decades ago.
“The state of Israel should immediately end the siege of Gaza so that water, food, energy, medical supplies, and fuel can reach civilians in the Gaza Strip,” said Ramaphosa.
Earlier Ramaphosa had said South Africa was willing to broker a peace deal between the warring parties in Palestine and Israel.
He had said the country has been involved in peace efforts across the world.
Ramaphosa led a group of seven African leaders to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine a few months ago.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in the Middle East a few days ago where he met with several leaders in the region, including the president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, the prime minister of Qatar, Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, and King Abdullah of Jordan.
Politics