MOSCOW, December 13. /TASS/. The situation in the Gaza Strip is "horrific" as Israeli forces proceed to flatten entire residential areas, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said, addressing the Federation Council (upper house of parliament, or "senate").

According to him, Israel believes that it has every right to use any available means to eliminate Gaza-based radical Palestinian group Hamas. "We can see the results of such a policy in real time. In fact, residential areas are being flattened; over 18,000 civilians have already been killed and the number keeps growing every day, with the majority of those killed being women and children. The situation is horrific," he pointed out.

"From the very beginning, we strongly condemned - particularly, in the president’s statement - Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack on Israeli civilians, which claimed numerous lives, and urgently highlighted the need to suppress such terrorist activities. However, at the same time, we cannot recognize those methods being employed against Hamas as acceptable because they have, in fact, mostly caused harm to civilians," Lavrov noted.

"I have recently heard, I think, Mr. [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu say that there is an approximately one-to-one ratio between killed terrorists and civilians. This cannot be verified but that doesn’t look to be the case," the top Russian diplomat said. "It’s actually impossible to check the situation because even UN workers are facing enormous difficulties not just in moving around the Gaza Strip but even in staying there, to say nothing of the some 100 UN employees who have lost their lives in Gaza - a record number for any conflict," he added.

Today, in Lavrov’s words, the goal is "primarily to end the bloodshed and ensure the full implementation of international humanitarian law, including the protection of civilians during combat operations and the prevention of indiscriminate shelling attacks on areas where there may be civilian infrastructure, let alone peaceful [civilian] residents."

Tensions in the Middle East flared up again on October 7 after militants from the radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, killing residents of border communities and taking numerous hostages. Israel announced a total blockade of Gaza and launched a military operation in Gaza, also carrying out strikes on certain areas in Lebanon and Syria in response to rocket attacks. Clashes are also taking place in the West Bank.