At a moment the United States is blocking a UN Security Council meeting and statement on Gaza, delaying it further to next week given Israel shows no signs that it’s ready for ceasefire talks following an earlier overture from Hamas, multiple world leaders have issued their own statements demanding “urgent de-escalation” and have called for ceasefire, particularly French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin’s latest statement Friday, being initially reported by Sky News Arabic, appeared especially forceful, calling the crisis a “direct threat” to Russian interests in the region.
He said the “current sharp escalation in Israeli-Palestinian conflict poses a direct threat to Russia’s security interests,” according to a translation. This after yesterday Putin along with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for an end to the fighting.
At least 130 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 30 children, and close to 1,000 wounded since Monday, while six Israeli civilians, including two children, have died from the Hamas attacks.
Here’s more on Putin’s words from regional media…
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the current escalation between Israel and Palestine poses a direct threat to Russia’s security.
Holding a meeting with the Russian Security Council, Putin suggested discussing the situation in Jerusalem and Gaza Strip prior to the agreed agenda.
“I would like to ask my colleagues to comment on the current situation in the Middle East, I mean the escalated Palestinian-Israeli conflict – this is happening in the immediate vicinity of our borders and directly affects our security interests,” he said.
Meanwhile German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday issued a statement which appeared a show of strong support from Israel’s operations in Gaza, which as of Thursday night has included ground troops in operations at the border and over one hundred warplanes as well as tank fire.
