MOSCOW: Russia on Sunday called for an international monitoring mission to go to Gaza to assess the humanitarian situation, and said it was unacceptable for Israel to use Hamas’ Oct 7 raid as justification for punishing the Palestinian people.

Russian Foreign Minis­ter Sergei Lavrov condemned the Oct 7 raid, however, at the same time “we do not believe it is acceptable to use this event for the collective punishment of the millions of Palestinian people with indiscriminate shelling.”

Lavrov told Al Jazeera in an interview aired on Sunday at the Doha Forum conference that for there to be “humanitarian pauses” in Gaza “some kind of monitoring on the ground” was needed.

“We addressed the Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] suggesting that he use his authority to consider some kind of monitoring - but so far to no avail,” Lavrov said.

Netanyahu speaks to Putin, voices disapproval of Iran ties

“This happened not in a vacuum,” Lavrov said, pointing to decades of blockade and unfulfilled promises about a Palestinian state.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday and voiced displeasure with “anti-Israel positions” taken by Moscow’s envoys at the United Nations, an Israeli statement said.

Russia backed a UN Security Council resolution for a Gaza truce, which was vetoed by the United States on Friday. Speaking to Putin, Netanyahu also voiced “robust disapproval” of Russia’s “dangerous” cooperation with Iran, the Israeli statement said.

The Kremlin said Russia was ready to give all possible assistance to alleviate the suffering of civilians and de-escalate the ongoing situation.

“Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the principle position of rejecting and condemning terrorism in all its forms,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2023