DUBAI, November 20. /TASS/. The extraordinary online BRICS summit to be held on November 21 was initiated by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the IRNA news agency reported on Monday.

The press service of South African President Cyril Ramaposa, the current BRICS’ presidency, said earlier on Monday that that the BRICS leaders will gather online on November 21 for an extraordinary meeting that will be devoted to the situation in the Middle East and, in particular, in the Gaza Strip. Along with Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the association’s new members - Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates - were invited to take part.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.