Russia’s remarks coincide with Hamas’s efforts to find eight Israeli citizens who are Russian among the hostages it has taken. The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has stated that Israel’s shelling of Gaza is illegal under international law and could lead to a catastrophic event that lasts for many years.
In an interview with the official news agency of Belarus, Belta, Lavrov delivered some of the most harsh remarks Moscow has made about Israel to date. Belta published the interview on Saturday.
“We strongly oppose the idea that responding to acts of terrorism by breaking the rules of international humanitarian law—such as indiscriminately using force against locations where civilians are known to be present, including hostages that have been taken—even though we condemn terrorism,” the speaker stated.
He continued by saying that Israel’s commitment to eliminate Hamas would not be achievable without also killing Gaza and the majority of its civilian population.
“This will create a catastrophe for many decades, if not centuries, if Gaza is destroyed and two million inhabitants are expelled, as some politicians in Israel and abroad propose,” Lavrov said.
“Humanitarian programmes must be announced and stopped in order to save the people under blockade.”
In order to provide supplies to civilians, the international community has asked for a humanitarian ceasefire as Israel continues to expand its military incursion into Gaza.
According to Russian news outlets, which quoted a Hamas member, Hamas was attempting to find eight dual citizens of Russia and Israel on Saturday. These individuals are among the scores of captives that Hamas captured during its raid on Israel three weeks ago.
Moscow had asked for their release and had handed Hamas a list of names. “We view Russia as our closest friend, so we are very attentive to this list and we will handle it carefully,” top Hamas representative Moussa Abu Marzook was cited by the Russian news agency RIA as saying.
We are now searching for those individuals. Though it’s challenging, we are searching. And we’ll let them go as soon as we locate them. Despite the challenges brought on by the existing circumstances,
Israel has stated that it believes that during Hamas’ October 7 attack, which also claimed the lives of over 1,400 people, 229 people were taken prisoner. Since then, Israel has bombed Gaza nonstop, killing over 7,300 Palestinians there.
The Kremlin stated on Friday that Russia maintains contact with all parties involved in the Israel-Palestine issue. The decision to allow a Hamas team travel to Moscow, which included Marzouk, was met with indignation from Israel.
Israel had called the Hamas members’ invitation to Moscow “deplorable” and urged Russia on Thursday to kick them out.
According to Lavrov, Israel and Russia are also in close communication.
“Our ambassador keeps in regular contact with Israel, and we remain in full contact with them,” Lavrov stated.
“We are communicating that the announced’scorched earth’ strategy should not be implemented and that a peaceful solution should be sought instead.”
Russia has been accused by Kiev and the West of attacking people all over Ukraine. Moscow claims that it solely aims at military objectives and does not purposefully target civilians.
