Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that Israel is seeking to “blow up” the whole of the Middle East as he criticised Israel’s attacks in Iran and Qatar and opposed calls to annex the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports.

“Israel’s illegal use of force against the Palestinians and aggressive actions against Iran, Qatar, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq today threaten to blow up the entire Middle East,” Lavrov said in a speech at the UN General Assembly.