Russia expresses 'shock and sympathy' over Israel's Rafah tent camp attack

MOSCOW

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has expressed shock and sympathy over Sunday's Israeli airstrike that triggered a fire and killed 45 people in the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

The attack occurred near the logistics base of the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Tal al-Sultan.

"For any normal person, this information (about the attack), confirmed by the facts and footage, causes only one reaction – shock and sympathy," Zakharova said in response to a question by Anadolu during a press briefing in Moscow.

She wished swift recovery of all those injured and conveyed her condolences to the bereaved families, the Palestinian people, and their leadership.

"It is especially regrettable that this tragedy occurred in a tent city for refugees, a place where, according to the Israeli authorities, people who were forced to leave their homes could take shelter from the bombing, feel safe, and escape the war," she stressed.

The spokeswoman regretted that the entire Gaza Strip had become an uninterrupted zone of peril, posing imminent threats to its inhabitants.

Zakharova attributed the tragedy to the Israeli side's disregard for multiple UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions, which called for an immediate cessation of hostilities in Gaza and the establishment of robust humanitarian access to the enclave.

"In this regard, we call for the immediate implementation of these resolutions, which would ensure the establishment of a long-term cease-fire, provide the necessary assistance to the residents of the Gaza Strip, and create conditions for transferring efforts to resolve the conflict to the political and diplomatic plane," she said.

Turning to the issue of granting Palestine a status of the UN full member-state, the official said in April and May efforts in that direction intensified. But despite overwhelming support from 143 nations in the General Assembly, the US vetoed the resolution in the Security Council.

Despite the setback, discussions persist in the Security Council, with some countries opting to recognize Palestine independently, she said, referring to recent announcements by Ireland, Norway and Spain.

"According to incoming information, the discussion in the Security Council on the Palestinian application will continue in the near future," she said.

Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which killed around 1,200 people.

The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.

The attack came despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice that ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.