UNITED NATIONS, January 3. /TASS/. Russia called on Israel to put an immediate end to hostilities in the Gaza Strip at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Russia’s Representative at the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya noted that Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave and attacks had caused a humanitarian crisis, damage to medical infrastructure and mass displacements. "We are extremely concerned about the ongoing attacks on civilian facilities. The number of refugees amounts to millions, while the healthcare system in the [Gaza] Strip has almost been destroyed," the Russian diplomat said as he backed the proposal put forward by the World Health Organization (WHO) to evacuate patients to southern Gaza.
Russia reiterated its commitment to the formula of "two states for the two peoples," stressing that Israeli’s security can only be ensured through the implementation of the rights of Palestinians to their own homeland within the 1967 borders with its capital in East Jerusalem.
Tensions escalated again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian movement Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israeli territory, killing residents of Israeli border settlements and taking over 240 hostages, including women, children, and the elderly. In response, Israel initiated a military operation in Gaza with the objective of destroying the military and political structure of Hamas and rescuing all those abducted. Military actions in the Gaza Strip continue to this day.