African Union summit leaders in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa condemned the Israeli attack on Gaza today, Saturday, and called for its immediate cessation.

Moussa Faki, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, said the Israeli attack is the “most egregious” violation of international humanitarian law, accusing Israel of “genocide” against the people of Gaza.

Faki spoke alongside Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh, who also delivered a speech before the summit.

He said, "Rest assured, we strongly condemn these unprecedented attacks in human history,” "We want to affirm our solidarity with the people of Palestine."

Ghizali Othmani, President of Comoros and outgoing Chairperson of the African Union, praised the case South Africa brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice while condemning “the genocide being committed by Israel in Palestine before our eyes.”

Othmani said: "The international community cannot close its eyes to the atrocities being committed, which have not only caused chaos in Palestine but have also had severe consequences in the rest of the world."

One quarter of Gaza’s population suffers from famine due to the war that began with Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, in which militants killed about 1200 people, most of them civilians, and kidnapped about 250 persons.

Israel strongly denies committing genocide in Gaza and says it is doing everything possible to spare civilians and is targeting only Hamas militants, stating that Hamas’s tactic of positioning in civilian areas makes it difficult to avoid civilian casualties.

During last year’s African Union summit, an Israeli delegate was informally expelled from the general hall amid a dispute over the state’s observer status at the continental body.

Concerns over conflicts and renewed coups across the African continent also highlighted this year’s summit opening. Faki pointed to tensions arising from postponed elections in Senegal and violence in eastern Congo, Sudan, the Sahel region, and Libya, calling for the revival of the “spirit of African solidarity and African unity” to overcome the many challenges facing the continent, which has a population of 1.3 billion people.