Creation of a fully-fledged Palestinian state is a must for M East peace

Putin tells visiting Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas

FE Team | Published: August 13, 2024 21:31:15

MOSCOW, Aug 13 (AFP): Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday told Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas that Moscow was "concerned" about civilian deaths in Gaza.
"We are concerned above all about civilian losses," Putin said, according to images shown on Russian state television.
"We are doing everything ... to support Palestine and the Palestinian people," he said.
The only way to create "long-lasting, reliable, stable peace in the region" is implementation of all UN resolutions and the "creation of a fully-fledged Palestinian state," he added.
Abbas told Putin: "We feel that Russia is one of the dearest friends of the Palestinian people".
The leaders held talks after a weekend strike on a Gaza school building left at least 93 people dead, including 11 children, according to the Gaza civil defence agency.
Israel's military said the raid had "eliminated" 31 militants.
Moscow for years tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East -- including Israel and the Palestinians.
But since the Israel-Hamas war and Russia's own offensive on Ukraine, Putin has moved closer to Israel's foes, Hamas and Iran.
The Gaza war began with the Hamas October 7 attack on Israel which resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel's military offensive in Gaza has killed at least 39,929 people, according to a toll from the territory's health ministry, which does not provide a breakdown of civilian and militant deaths.
The Kremlin has repeatedly criticised Israel's response to the October 7 attacks and called for restraint.
Baby survives Israeli
strike that killed 10
An Israeli strike killed 10 members of a Gaza family in the territory's southern district of Khan Yunis Tuesday, leaving only one survivor -- a three-month-old girl, a medic told AFP.
"Ten members of the Abu Haya family were killed in an Israeli strike on Abassan in east Khan Yunis," the medic from Nasser Hospital told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"There is only one survivor from the family, a baby girl named Rim. She is just three months old," he said, identifying the 10 other members of the family -- two parents and their eight children.
The girl, wrapped in a black cloth, stirred strong emotion in the courtyard of Nasser Hospital, a place now known for grieving families searching for dead or wounded loved ones.
"This little girl was pulled out of the rubble. Her whole family is dead. Who will take care of her now?" asked Ibrahim Barbakh, a resident of Khan Yunis, as he held the baby.
Rescue workers, witnesses and medical sources reported further Israeli air strikes and shelling in several parts of the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, some of them deadly.