BEIRUT, October 16. /TASS/. The situation in the Gaza Strip was the focus of a telephone call between Presidents Bashar Assad of Syria and Vladimir Putin of Russia, the Syrian presidential office said on Monday.
According to its post on Telegram, the two leaders called for sending immediate aid to Gaza as well as putting an end to bombardments on the enclave and forcing residents to leave their homes.
"Presidents Assad and Putin held a phone call. <…> [The leaders] stressed the need to ensure immediate humanitarian aid deliveries to civilians in the Gaza Strip and the need for Israel to stop shelling attacks and forcible relocation practices against innocent people in Gaza," the office said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank. More than 2,800 Palestinians have been killed and around 10,900 others injured. In Israel, at least 1,500 people have lost their lives and almost 4,000 have been wounded.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the UN Secretary General, said earlier that Israel had informed the UN that 1.1 million Palestinians should evacuate to the south of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours. The Israel Defense Forces justified this by saying that Hamas militants were hiding in tunnels under civilian buildings in Gaza. The call for the evacuation also applies to all UN staff, along with those who are taking shelter at UN facilities. Hamas, however, called on people to ignore Israel’s recommendation. It also asked the UN to take measures to prevent people from being forced from their homes. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said during his talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the Jordanian capital that he was against the forcible relocation of Gaza residents.