UN, January 24. /TASS/. Experts’ assessments of the current situation in the Gaza Strip show that its land will hardly ever be habitable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at an open debate of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on the Middle East.

"I would also draw your attention to an article in the Jerusalem post newspaper dated January 5 of this year written by the Ben-Gurion University’s professor. <…> The article is based on assessments of eco experts, including Israeli specialists. The assessments question the fact that Gaza will ever be habitable after the conflict ends," he said, adding that the ground, ground waters, the area of coastal marine waters and atmosphere "have already been unprecedentedly polluted."

The situation in the Middle East escalated sharply on October 7 of last year after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas staged surprise incursions from Gaza into borderline Israeli communities, killing residents of Israeli kibbutzim and taking more than 240 people as hostages, including children, women and the elderly. The radicals described the attack as a response to the aggressive actions of the Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel announced a complete blockade of Gaza and launched retaliatory strikes and a ground military operation against Hamas in the Palestinian enclave as well as strikes on parts of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes have also been reported in the West Bank.