MOSCOW, October 22. /TASS/. Israel has no information about the state Hamas hostages are in, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Ben Zvi told TASS on Sunday.

"Regrettably, we have no data on this because Hamas doesn’t share such information with anyone, not only with us. We are still waiting for the lists they promised to provide. Nothing of the kind has been published. We don’t know how many [hostages Hamas is keeping], neither do we know about the state they are in," he said, adding that according to the Israeli data, Hamas is "holding 212 abducted people, from the elderly to newborns."

He also recalled that two US nationals have been released by Hamas "as a result of galks between the US, Qatar, and so on."

"They must release everyone they are keeping. Civilians cannot he held hostage, this is a flagrant violation of humanitarian law," he stressed, adding that these people must be released "without any special conditions."

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip attacked Israeli territory. Hamas views its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ steps against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank. More than 3,400 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,000 others injured. In Israel, at least 1,500 people have lost their lives and almost 4,500 have been wounded.