MOSCOW, February 16. /TASS/. Israel’s position poses problems for the evacuation of the remaining Russian nationals from the Gaza Strip, Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS.

"There are more Russian citizens who want to leave the area. We are having problems with the Israeli authorities as they claim that some of them are linked with extremists and terrorists," he said, adding that such allegations "sound off." "Because in recent decades the only government [in Gaza], as a matter of fact, has been Hamas. Everything there is linked with Hamas: water supplies, all services, schools, kindergartens," he stressed.

"Families of many evacuated people are divided today: wives and children have been evacuated while the fathers stay there," he noted. "From the very beginning, we have been saying that the war must be stopped, that it is necessary to focus on hostage release and complete the evacuation," Bogdanov said.

According to the senior Russian diplomat, Russia has evacuated more than 1,200 people from the Gaza Strip.