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Lavrov to meet with top diplomats of OIC, Arab League countries on November 21

"They will arrive in the Russian capital city in line with the decision made at the Riyadh summit to discuss the situation around the Gaza Strip," Maria Zakharova noted

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with some of his counterparts from the countries of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Moscow on November 21 to discuss the situation around the Gaza Strip, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday.

"A meeting of Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov with delegations from foreign ministries of a number of Arab League and OIC countries is scheduled to be held tomorrow in Moscow. They will arrive in the Russian capital city in line with the decision made at the Riyadh summit to discuss the situation around the Gaza Strip," she said.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.