Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo has refused to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to Kenya on Monday.

Farmajo was in Kenya to attend an African Heads of State meeting in Nairobi, when he refused to take part in a meeting between African leaders and and the Israeli PM.

The Palestinian faction Hamas praised Farmajo's gesture, which they said expresses his country’s solidarity with Palestine.

“With the example of these leaders, attitudes have value and meaning, and their country has respect and appreciation, and their people have dignity,” Senior Hamas member, Mousa Abu Marzouq, said.

Meanwhile, Hamas official Izzat Al-Rishq expressed Palestinians’ gratitude for the Somali President’s political stance.

Al-Rishq said that Farmajo’s position “reflects the authenticity of the brotherly Republic of Somalia in standing with Palestine and rejecting any normalisation with an entity which occupies land and holy places.”

Al-Rishq personally thanked the Somali president for taking this position, which he said “reflects the authenticity of the brotherly Republic of Somalia in standing with Palestine and rejecting any normalisation with an entity which occupies land and holy places.”