Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed the need for a multilateral approach to resolve the conflict and said the United States had not offered any new ideas.
“The more we have such ‘initiatives” from any one state, the greater in general will be the risks, the danger of the conflict growing,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted him as saying after a regional meeting in Tehran.
The conflict meanwhile was escalating beyond Gaza.
Israeli aircraft hit positions in south Lebanon held by Hezbollah which, like Hamas, is a group allied to Israel’s long-time foe Iran. The Israeli army and Palestinians also clashed in the occupied West Bank. And Hamas fired more rockets into Israel.
At least 5,087 Palestinians have been killed in two weeks of strikes, including 2,055 children, the health ministry said.
Israel’s police and the Shin Bet intelligence agency released footage from their interrogations of captured Hamas gunmen who took part in the Oct 7 rampage of Israeli communities.
In the video clips, one handcuffed Hamas man sitting beside a desk is heard describing the orders they received regarding Israeli civilians – to kill the men and bring the women, children and elderly as hostages.
Another, with an injury on his face, said they were told their prize for bringing captives would be a new home and US$10,000.
FIGHTING INSIDE GAZA
Israel said its armed forces’ incursions overnight were partly intended to gather intelligence, with the whereabouts of the hostages unknown, and had helped improve its military readiness.
“These raids are raids that kill squads of terrorists who are preparing for our next stage in the war. These are raids that go deep,” military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said.
Hamas’s armed wing, the Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, said its fighters engaged with an Israeli force that infiltrated southern Gaza, destroying two bulldozers and a tank and forcing the raiders to withdraw.
Israel made no comment on the incident.
Source: CNA
