Israel has recalled its ambassador, Eliav Belotserkovsky, to South Africa “for consultations,” as the African nation prepares to host a summit for world leaders and a vote on whether to shut down its Israeli embassy and sever diplomatic ties.

Supporters during the ANC KZN Palestinian Solidarity March on Oct. 26, 2023 in Durban, South Africa. The group is standing in solidarity with the Palestinian resistance against Israeli and over the war in the Gaza Strip.

Belotserkovsky has been called to Jerusalem amid South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s criticism of Israel’s attacks on Gaza, according to Israel’s foreign ministry. “Following the latest South African statements, the Ambassador of Israel to Pretoria has been recalled to Jerusalem for consultations,” Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs posted late Monday on X.

South Africa has been vocal in reprimanding Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and filed a referral to the International Criminal Court, seeking an investigations into what Ramaphosa has described as Israel’s “war crimes” and “tantamount to genocide.”

Earlier in November, South Africa also recalled its ambassador to Israel and withdrew its diplomatic presence on the ground.

“Given that much of the global community is witnessing the commission of these crimes in real time, including statements of genocidal intent by many Israeli leaders, we expect that warrants of arrest for these leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, should be issued shortly,” South African minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, also told reporters on Monday.

South African diplomats have long identified likeness between life for Palestinians under occupation and those who lived under apartheid, the legal system for racial separation in South Africa from 1948 until 1994.

In July 2022, over a year before Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, South African diplomat Nalendi Pandor said, “For many South Africans, the narrative of the Palestinian people's struggle does evoke experiences of our own history of racial segregation and oppression."

Israel began striking the Palestinian enclave in response to Hamas attacks, in which 1,200 were killed and around 240 taken hostage.. Since then, at least 13,000 Gazans have died, among them thousands of children, U.N. workers, and journalists. At least 1.4 million people of  Gaza’s 2.2 million population have been displaced by the war.

Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress party, among other smaller parties, will support a motion brought about by leftist opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters to close Israel’s embassy in the nation. South Africa’s parliament is set to vote on the matter Tuesday, which would take effect until Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza and further negotiations carried out by the U.N.

The move comes just as South Africa prepares to host a virtual summit with the BRICS, an economic bloc of nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to discuss Israel’s war on Gaza. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, will also join the group in January.

Among the leaders attending are Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has expressed his support for Palestinians and welcomed diplomats from Arab and Muslim nations in Beijing Monday.

Russia and India have taken a strategic approach to the conflict, keeping in mind longer term aims.

Putin has been accused of using the conflict to his political advantage, placing the blame with the U.S. "I think that many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failed policy in the Middle East of the United States, which tried to monopolize the settlement process," Putin told Iraq's prime minister on Oct. 10. He offered condolences to Israel on the loss of lives six days after the attack, but said a Hamas delegation was in Moscow for talks on Oct. 17.

At the time of the Hamas attacks, Modi expressed “complete solidarity” with Israel. While Modi has since “strongly condemned” civilian deaths in the war, India also abstained from a U.N. assembly vote on a “humanitarian truce” on Oct. 27.

Ramaphosa is set to chair a meeting where leaders will deliver statements on Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, after which a joint statement will likely follow.

South African lawmakers vote to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel, shut embassy.

Demonstrators gather outside the Israeli embassy in Pretoria.

-South African lawmakers voted on Tuesday in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations until a ceasefire is agreed in its war with Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.

The resolution is largely symbolic as it will be up to President Cyril Ramaphosa's government whether to implement it; a presidency spokesperson said Ramaphosa "notes and appreciates" parliament's guidance on South Africa's diplomatic relations with Israel, particularly on the status of the embassy.

"The president and cabinet are engaged over the matter, which remains the responsibility of the national executive," Vincent Magwenya said.

Ramaphosa and senior foreign ministry officials have been vocally critical of Israel's leadership during its devastating military campaign against Hamas in the densely populated Gaza Strip, calling on the International Criminal Court to investigate them for potential war crimes.

The Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Monday, the Israeli ambassador in Pretoria was recalled to Tel Aviv for consultations ahead of the vote, which on Tuesday was resoundingly adopted by a 248-91 margin.

The parliamentary resolution was brought by the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party last week when the governing African National Congress pledged to support what has been a central diplomatic stance for South Africa since Nelson Mandela became the country's first democratically elected president in 1994.

The chief whip of the ANC, Pemmy Majodina, amended the last point of the EFF draft resolution calling for the embassy's closure and diplomatic suspension, to include the words: "... until a ceasefire is agreed to by Israel and Israel commits to binding United Nations-facilitated negotiations whose outcome must be a just, sustainable and lasting peace."

South Africa has backed the Palestinian cause for statehood in Israeli-occupied territories for decades, likening the plight of Palestinians to those of the Black majority during the repressive apartheid-era, a comparison Israel vehemently denies.

The EFF proposed the motion on Thursday in solidarity with the Palestinian people over the Israeli bombardment and invasion of Hamas-ruled Gaza, prompted by a deadly incursion by Hamas militants into Israel on Oct. 7.

Israel has recalled its ambassador in South Africa "for consultations", Israel's foreign ministry has said.

The move on Monday followed the "latest South African statements" on Israel, ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said on X without giving specifics.

South Africa has been highly critical of Israel's military operation in Gaza.

On Tuesday, its MPs passed a motion recommending the Israeli embassy's closure until there is a ceasefire and a commitment to negotiations.

The motion was passed in parliament by 248 votes to 91.

All lawmakers from the governing African National Congress supported it, but it is unclear whether the government will act on the recommendation.

Despite the objections of the presiding officer, some MPs chanted "free, free Palestine" after the motion was passed.