‘If the Gaza Strip is destroyed and 2 million residents are expelled, it will create a catastrophe for many more decades, if not centuries.” – Lavrov.
A ceasefire and humanitarian programs are needed in Gaza to save the population, which has been blockaded without water, electricity, and food, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with the Belarusian news agency BELTA on Saturday.
According to the Russian official, “if the Gaza Strip is destroyed and 2 million residents are expelled, it will create a catastrophe for many more decades, if not centuries.”
During the interview, Lavrov cited UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who said that “the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum” and recalled the need for a two-state solution.
The minister noted that he has repeatedly told his Israeli counterparts that the unstable situation in the region will not calm down “without the creation of a Palestinian state through negotiations,” and that there will always be a threat to Tel Aviv from the Occupied Palestinian territories.
Scorched-Earth Strategy
Given the current situation in Gaza, Lavrov said, direct talks between Palestine and Israel about a two-state solution are hardly possible. However, Moscow is “sending a signal” to Tel Aviv that a peaceful way out must be found instead of “completing the announced scorched-earth strategy in Gaza,” he added.
The foreign minister also noted that the escalation of the Gaza conflict “has sent a signal to the West” that it should think “not only about Ukraine, where they want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia on the battlefield,” but also about how to ensure security interests in general.
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Putin: Stop the Bloodshed
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin recalled Moscow’s position on the Gaza conflict – that two independent sovereign states should be created based on the decisions of the UN Security Council – but noted that the main point now is to stop the bloodshed and violence.
On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the nation and said that “we are raining down hellfire on Hamas” promising a “ground incursion” into Gaza.
On Friday, Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said that in addition to the attacks of the past few days, ground forces were “expanding” their activities.
A few hours later, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry stated on the social media platform X that it was calling on the entire world “to intervene immediately to stop this war.”
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War on Gaza
Israel has, thus far, killed 7,703 Palestinians in Gaza, including 3,195 children, and wounded over 19,743 more.
Palestinian Ministry of Health reports and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
On Friday night, Israel intensified airstrikes and expanded its ground operations in Gaza, while knocking out all communications for Palestinians in the besieged Strip.
Gaza has been under a tight Israeli military siege since 2007, following a democratic election in occupied Palestine, the results of which were rejected by Tel Aviv and Washington.
(RT, PC)
