Russian foreign minister says Israeli actions pushed settlement with Palestine far back

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Israel has pushed the settlement with Palestine far back by its actions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

Speaking at a news conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Lavrov said Moscow cannot accept the methods that the Israeli troops are using during their military operation.

"In reality, the destruction of civilians is happening, and most importantly, if we abstract from today's humanitarian tragedy, the most important thing is that these (Israeli) actions further delay the prospect of sustainable long-term peace in the Middle East through the creation of a Palestinian state in full accordance with UN decisions," he noted.

Lavrov emphasized that the instability in the Middle East in general directly impacts not only the adjacent territories, but that the militants also flee the region in the direction of areas neighboring Russia -- the Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The Collective Security Treaty Organization adopted four statements in its June 20-21 meeting in Almaty, with one of them on the situation in the Middle East and North Africa, with particular emphasis on the state of affairs in Gaza, the minister said.

"This is also a direction that we are closely monitoring and trying to contribute to calming the situation by channeling it into a process of searching for political solutions based on the UN Security Council and the General Assembly," he said.

More than 37,400 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.