MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Destroying the Gaza Strip or expelling 2 mln residents from the Palestinian enclave risks causing a crisis that may last decades, if not ages, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told BelTA in an interview.

"If Gaza is destroyed or if 2 mln people are expelled from there <…>, this would cause a crisis for decades, if not ages," Lavrov said as he urged humanitarian efforts to rescue the Gaza population.

According to Russia’s top diplomat, the resolution at the United Nations Security Council drafted by Russia jointly with China and Arab countries was aimed at achieving exactly these goals, as he referred to the provision of food and thermal power to people in Gaza. However, the US veto showed "that their task includes supporting Israel in any of its actions," Lavrov lamented.

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 when Hamas militants launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian movement described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total siege of Gaza and started carrying out strikes on the Palestinian enclave, as well as on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.