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Middle East conflict

Senior Russian diplomat tells Palestinian, Hamas leaders hostages must be released

As Mikhail Bogdanov stressed, "the Russian side reiterated its principled position on the need for a cessation of hostilities and an urgent solution of all humanitarian issues"

MOSCOW, December 11. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, during talks with Palestinian and Hamas officials on December 10-11, pointed to the need for an urgent settlement of all humanitarian issues in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict zone, including the release of hostages.

The senior Russian diplomat held the talks with member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Secretary General of the Palestinian Democratic Union (FIDA) Saleh Raafat, representative of the leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Maher Taher, and Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk.

"In the course of the talks, a number of issues related to the sharp escalation of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict were discussed, with a focus on the emerging military and humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. At the same time, the Russian side reiterated its principled position on the need for a cessation of hostilities and an urgent solution of all humanitarian issues, including the release of hostages," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The diplomats added that "the special importance of restoring Palestinian national unity within the framework of the PLO on the basis of its political platform aimed at the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side in peace and security with Israel" was also stressed.

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