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Middle East conflict

Russia wants to save people’s lives in Middle East — Lavrov

"As a result of the campaign for collective punishment of the Palestinians, which is now being conducted by Israel, <…> 41,000 Palestinian civilians were killed and around 100,000 were wounded in just about a year, since October 7, 2023," the Russian foreign minister said

UNITED NATIONS, September 28. /TASS/. Instead of worrying how the conflict in the Middle East may affect its positions on the global arena, Russia simply wants to save the lives of its people, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters.

"[We do not view] the events in the Middle East - a tragedy, to say the least - from the point of view of how the outcome will affect our positions on the international arena. All we want is to save people’s lives," he said at a news conference to sum up the results of his participation in the High-Level Week of the 79th UN General Assembly.

"As a result of the campaign for collective punishment of the Palestinians, which is now being conducted by Israel, <…> 41,000 Palestinian civilians were killed and around 100,000 were wounded in just about a year, since October 7, 2023," Lavrov said. "We are interested in putting an immediate end to this massacre."

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when Hamas militants staged a surprise attack on Israeli territory from Gaza, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 250 hostages, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as retaliation for the aggressive actions taken by Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians before the crisis, launching air strikes on Gaza as well as some parts of Lebanon and Syria before starting a ground operation in the Palestinian enclave.

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Foreign policy Sergey Lavrov Palestine Israel

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