UPDATE - Russia says it cannot recognize Israel’s methods against Hamas as 'acceptable'

ADDS FURTHER COMMENTS BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Russia’s foreign minister on Wednesday said Moscow cannot recognize Israel’s methods against the Palestinian group Hamas as "acceptable."

“From the very beginning, we strongly condemned … the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7 against Israeli civilians … and urgently called for the need to suppress such terrorist activities. But, at the same time, we cannot recognize as acceptable those methods which began to be used (by Israel) against Hamas, from which civilians suffered the most,” Sergey Lavrov said in a speech at the Russian Federation Council.

Saying that Israel apparently believes it has the right to destroy Hamas by any means, Lavrov said that they see the result of such a line of thought through the huge number of casualties in the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, when Israel’s offensive began, following the Hamas attack.

“Neighborhoods are being razed to the ground, more than 18,000 civilians have already died, this figure is increasing every day, two-thirds of them are women and children. The situation is terrible," Lavrov said.

His remarks come days after a conversation between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin, in which the former criticized the cooperation between Russia and Iran, and expressed his dissatisfaction with the positions taken “against Israel by Russian representatives at the UN and in other forums.”

Lavrov said there currently is a dispute at the UN "about who will prevail in rhetoric, in the ideological struggle."

He said Russia will never agree to a deal undermining Israel's security, but Moscow is also convinced that security can only be ensured in accordance with UN decisions, which call for an independent Palestinian state.

He accused the West of not intending to create such a state, adding that attempts to create Jewish settlements in the West Bank does not stop.

"The practice of demolishing Palestinian houses and expelling Palestinian families from these houses continues, because Israel wants to develop these territories for new settlements," he said.