MOSCOW, October 13. /TASS/. Israel realizes that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has no sway over the Hamas movement, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi told TASS, commenting on Abbas’ talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"Mahmoud Abbas does not have any particular influence over the Gaza Strip. He has not been there in 16 years - since 2007," he said. "The only possible thing he can do is maybe prevent escalation in the West Bank. He can help with that."

"As for negotiating more serious issues - I do not think so. Even if something might be negotiated with him, Hamas absolutely will ignore it. I don’t see any major breakthroughs in this sense," the ambassador added.