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MOSCOW (Reuters) -Hamas officers visiting Moscow have been quoted by Russian media on Friday as saying the militant group considered all its hostages as Israelis, no matter further passports they held, and couldn’t launch any of them till Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
Hamas Politburo member Abu Marzouk informed state information company RIA that Russia, the US, France, Spain, Italy and plenty of others had appealed for the discharge of their nationals from amongst greater than 200 hostages that Hamas seized in a cross-border rampage into Israel on Oct. 7.
He stated Hamas considered Moscow’s request “extra positively and attentively than the others, given the character of our relationships with Russia”.
RIA quoted him as saying that Hamas didn’t view its captives as Russian, French or American. “All these captured, for us, are Israelis, though there’s an enchantment to their authentic citizenship within the hope it will save them,” he stated.
One other member of the delegation, Abu Hamid, informed Kommersant newspaper that Hamas wanted time to find all these taken to Gaza by varied Palestinian factions within the Oct. 7 assaults that killed 1,400 individuals.
Russia’s ambassador to Israel stated this week that three Russian-Israeli residents have been considered among the many hostages.
Israel stated on Wednesday that greater than half the hostages held by Hamas have overseas passports from 25 totally different international locations. Many have been believed to have had twin Israeli nationality, nevertheless some virtually definitely didn’t.
Russia on Friday defended its resolution to ask the Hamas delegation to Moscow in opposition to sturdy Israeli criticism, saying it was obligatory to take care of contacts with all sides within the Israel-Palestinian battle.
Israel, which has vowed to wipe out Hamas in retaliation for the Oct. 7 assault, has described the choice as “deplorable” and urged Moscow to expel the delegation.
MAINTAINING CONTACTS
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated the Hamas delegation had met with representatives of Russia’s overseas ministry however not with President Vladimir Putin or Kremlin officers.
“We think about it essential to proceed our contacts with all events and, in fact, we are going to proceed our dialogue with Israel,” he informed reporters.
Russia has ties to all the important thing gamers within the Center East, together with Israel, Iran, Syria, Hamas, and the Western-backed Palestinian Authority which workout routines restricted self-rule underneath Israeli army occupation within the West Financial institution.
It has repeatedly blamed the disaster on a failure of U.S. diplomacy.
Russia’s embassy in Israel issued an announcement through which it reiterated Moscow’s name for an instantaneous ceasefire, the discharge of all hostages held by Hamas and the supply of humanitarian support to the individuals of Gaza, which Israel is closely bombarding forward of an anticipated floor invasion. Officers in Gaza say greater than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Peskov dominated out any danger of Russia being drawn into the battle after U.S. fighter jets on Friday struck weapons and ammunition amenities in Syria in retaliation for assaults on U.S. forces by Iranian-backed militia.
However he added that the U.S. strikes would additional stoke tensions throughout the area. “That is very unhealthy,” he stated.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gareth Jones; enhancing by Giles Elgood)
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