Russia 'in contact' with influential players to ease Israeli-Palestinian tensions

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Amid a humanitarian pause that will end on Thursday morning following a two-day extension, Russia said it is doing everything possible to reduce Israeli-Palestinian tensions and that it is in contact with Middle Eastern nations as well as other political forces to support this goal.

Russia continues contacts with Middle Eastern countries and political forces capable of influencing the situation in the Gaza Strip in order to ease Israeli-Palestinian tensions, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in response to Anadolu's question at a news conference in Moscow on Wednesday.

"We have been doing this from the first day to de-escalate the situation, reach a cease-fire, announce humanitarian pauses, resolve urgent humanitarian issues, the hostage situation, issues of evacuation," Zakharova said.

The spokeswoman noted that the political work continues as well, including on UN platforms such as the Security Council and General Assembly, where, despite Western counteraction, the position of the world majority, with which Russia’s position coincided, prevailed.

"God bless, it (the humanitarian pause) will not be disrupted; everything will be implemented. We hope so very much and are making every effort to do this," she said.

Qatar announced an agreement late Monday to extend an initial four-day humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas for an additional two days, under which further prisoner exchanges will be carried out and there will be more opportunities to deliver aid.

Israel launched a massive military campaign in the Gaza Strip following a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7.

It has since killed over 15,000 people, including 6,150 children and 4,000 women, according to health authorities in the enclave.

The official Israeli death toll stands at 1,200.

- Moscow doubts Ukrainian president's motives

In response to another Anadolu question about Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's announcement on deliveries of Western warships to protect vessels transporting grain, Zakharova said, "Zelenskyy's statements mean that NATO does not stop militarizing the Kyiv regime for a minute, and motives are used for this."

"I would like it to be clear that the declared purpose of protecting grain-carrying vessels by warships is an absolute cover for potential military adventures of the Kyiv regime and its Western coordinators in the Black Sea," she said.

Zakharova recalled that Ukraine used corridors established to transport grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative to carry out strikes in Crimea, a claim Ukraine denies.

"We remember and qualified it as terrorist attacks and said that the British were also involved in organizing them. There is no doubt that Kyiv and the Westerners, hiding behind good intentions, are leading the situation to further destabilization in the Black Sea region and just want an escalation of the crisis," she said.