CAIRO, June 24. /TASS/. Hamas thanks Russia for its efforts toward stabilizing the situation in the region, senior Hamas official Mousa Abu Marzouk said at a meeting with Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov.

"Head of the Hamas international relations department Mousa Abu Marzouk met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov <…> at the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow," Hamas said in a press statement posted on its Telegram channel. "Abu Marzouk thanked Russia for the efforts it is exerting toward stabilizing the situation in the region."

The Hamas official pledged that Hamas and its allies’ position on the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip "is in conformity with the principles the latest UN Security Council resolution is based on." According to Abu Marzouk, a truce in Gaza is only possible after Israel withdraws its troops from the enclave, a permanent ceasefire is declared, humanitarian aid is delivered to Gaza in sufficient volumes, infrastructure there is restored, and a deal on prisoner exchange is struck.

Bogdanov and Abu Marzouk last met on March 1 in Moscow. The sides discussed the situation in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and called for the release of hostages.

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.