Oct 28 (Portal) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip violated international law and could trigger a catastrophe that will last for decades.
Lavrov made Moscow’s most critical comments toward Israel to date in an interview with the Belarusian state news agency Belta published on Saturday.
“While we condemn terrorism, we categorically do not believe that terrorism can be responded to by violating the rules of international humanitarian law, including the indiscriminate use of force against targets known to contain civilians, including also kidnapped hostages,” Lavrov said.
He added that it would be impossible to destroy Hamas, as Israel intended, without destroying Gaza and most of its civilian population.
“If Gaza is destroyed and two million residents are displaced, as some politicians in Israel and abroad are proposing, it will bring about a catastrophe for many decades, if not centuries,” Lavrov warned.
“It is necessary to stop and cancel humanitarian programs to save the population under the blockade.”
Health authorities in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said Friday that 7,326 Palestinians had died since Israeli bombing began. On October 7, Hamas carried out an attack that Israel said killed 1,400 Israelis, mostly civilians. Hamas also took more than 200 hostages.
Russia, which supports an immediate ceasefire and a two-state solution, angered Israel by inviting a Hamas delegation to Moscow, a decision it defended on Friday. Hamas has said it is searching for eight hostages from Gaza at Russia’s request.
Lavrov said Russia was also in close contact with Israel.
“We remain in full contact with Israel and our ambassador is in regular contact with them,” Lavrov said.
“We are sending signals about the need to seek a peaceful solution and not to continue with this announced ‘scorched earth’ strategy.”
Kiev and the West have accused Russia itself of bombing civilians across Ukraine. Moscow claims it does not specifically attack civilians and only targets military targets. (Reporting by Andrew Osborn; Spanish editing by Ricardo Figueroa)