On the evening of October 17, a rocket attack destroyed the Al-Ahli hospital in the central part of the Gaza Strip. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, this tragedy claimed the lives of at least 500 people, over 1,000 were injured. The vast majority of them are patients and civilians who found refuge in the clinic, among whom there were many women and children.
Moscow is deeply shocked by what happened. We express our sincere condolences to the families of the victims, the people and the Government of Palestine.
We once again urge the parties to the conflict to immediately de-escalate hostilities and respect international humanitarian law. We confirm Russia’s principled position on the unacceptability of any violence against civilians, attacks on medical facilities and other civilian infrastructure.
We stress the need to consolidate international efforts in the interests of an immediate ceasefire and the opening of humanitarian corridors. This would make it possible to provide the necessary assistance to the population of Gaza, including the delivery of food, medicine and fuel, organize the evacuation of everyone and stop the impending humanitarian catastrophe.
We draw attention to the impropriety and immorality of attempts to politicize this topic. We call on the consideration of relevant initiatives in the UN Security Council to be guided, first of all, by the interests of people suffering in the conflict zone.
We remind you of the recommendation to Russian citizens to refrain from traveling to Israel and the Palestinian territories.
