Russian, Iran and Turkey on Monday urged an end to “targeting innocent civilians” during the conflict between Israel and Hamas in and around the Gaza Strip, Agence France-Presse reported.
The foreign ministers of the three countries, along with those of Armenia and Azerbaijan, “exchanged views on the situation in Gaza” and “emphasized the need for immediate termination of targeting innocent civilians” during a meeting in Tehran, a joint statement said.
Nearly 5,100 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip since Israel launched a relentless bombing campaign against the besieged enclave after an attack by Hamas inside Israel on Oct.7, according to health officials in Gaza.
About 40 percent of the 5,087 people killed are children, Gaza’s Ministry of Health said on Monday, the day when Israel’s army said it carried out more than 300 new air attacks within 24 hours. Palestinian officials said more than 400 people were killed in that period.
Thousands of buildings have been destroyed, and more than one million people displaced in the territory, which has been under siege and largely deprived of water, food and other basic supplies.
Fighting raged unabated overnight after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that Israel would “erase Hamas”, an armed group that runs Gaza, as a full-scale ground invasion loomed.
Hamas’s attack in southern Israel killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli officials.
