No prospects for rapid stabilization in Gaza due to Israel’s ‘uncompromising attitude’: Russia

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday said there are no prospects for a quick stabilization of the situation in the Gaza Strip due to the “uncompromising attitude” of Israel.

“Taking into account the uncompromising attitude of the Israeli leadership to continue the military action in Gaza, now extending it to Rafah, we do not see prospects for a quick stabilization of the situation in this sector,” Lavrov said during a meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club on the Middle East.

Expressing that it is nevertheless necessary to create conditions for “reliable sustainable settlement" in Gaza, while also achieving a cease-fire, Lavrov said Russia drew attention to its initiative in the UN Security Council to hold consultation with regional countries to “harmonize their approaches in support of the creation of a Palestinian state.”

“Following this, we propose holding an inter-Palestinian meeting with the participation of all leading Palestinian factions to overcome the internal division,” Lavrov further said.

Lavrov also said the worsening of the situation in the Middle East has “not yet reached its limit,” underlining the escalations outside Palestine to be playing a role in regional instability.

The Russian foreign minister went on to accuse the US of pushing not only Palestine and Israel, but the entire Middle East into a “catastrophe.”

“In the Middle East processes, I mean the Americans, they preferred to rely on their dominance in the region and are now working to exclude Russia from various international efforts that are aimed at creating conditions for the establishment of lasting peace and stability,” he added.

He also argued that the US and UK are putting forward initiatives aimed at establishing control over the Gaza Strip in a manner that is beneficial to Israel.

Since a cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,000 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling this January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.