UNITED NATIONS, September 16. /TASS/. Russia hopes that the United Nations Security Council will be able to elaborate measures to deescalate the situation in the Gaza Strip, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said.
"We hope that all members of the Security Council ultimately demonstrate collective responsibility for what is going on in the enclave and we will be able to urgently elaborate de-escalation measures and have them implemented. So far, regrettably, we see no signs of that and continue listening to empty and hypocritic calls," he said at a UN Security Council meeting on Palestine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier on Monday that the bloodshed in the Palestinian enclave is the most pressing international problem and called on the UN Security Council to keep it in focus of its attention.
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.