MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Egyptian Ambassador to Moscow Nazih el-Nagari stressed the inadmissibility of the Israeli military operation in the Gazan city of Rafah, the Russian Foreign Ministry said after their meeting.

"Major attention was focused on the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," it said. "The sides also stressed the inadmissibility of the Israeli military operation in the densely populated Palestinian city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip."

The two diplomats stressed the necessity of an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave and stable humanitarian aide to the enclave’s population. "The only path to a lasting peace in the Middle East is through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the basis of the two-state formula in accordance with the generally recognized basis of international law," the ministry said.

Nagari informed the senior Russian diplomat about his country’s efforts geared to protect civilians in Gaza, including its support for the lawsuit against Israel lodged with the International Court of Justice by South Africa.

Apart from that, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the sides exchanged views on the crises in Libya and Sudan, as well as discussed "issues of the further development of comprehensive Russian-Egyptian cooperation."

The meeting was initiated by the Egyptian side.

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 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. 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.

According to the latest data from Gaza’s health ministry, the death toll from Israeli bombardments of the Gaza Strip has climbed to more than 34,500, with more than 77,700 people being wounded.