MOSCOW, October 20. /TASS/. Russian diplomats are in touch with Russian nationals in Israel and Palestine to draw up a list of those who want to be evacuated, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

"At the moment, our missions in the region continue to work with Russian citizens living there in order to find out who wants to be evacuated. As you know, we have indeed a lot of our fellow citizens there, perhaps even more than a thousand. Those who have Russian citizenship and whose lives are potentially at risk. And this threat will grow manifold after the IDF launches a ground operation," he said.

Peskov stated that not all of these citizens want to evacuate and get in touch with Russian missions abroad. "Our diplomats are making every effort to establish these contacts. There is readiness for this. This is what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin spoke about in China. The opportunity is there. Work is underway," he added.

"We will act according to the situation. As you see, for now, the situation is unfortunately changing for the worse, and fast," Peskov said.

Moscow maintains contact with both Israel and Palestine, but it has no details about Russian hostages held by HAMAS, he went on to say.

"No, we have no details at this point, and we continue our contacts with both the Palestinians and the Israelis," Peskov said when asked whether anything was known about the captured Russians and whether a plan was in place for their release. According to the Israeli military, Hamas is holding 203 people hostage in the Gaza Strip. At least two of the hostages are Russian nationals.