Palestinian-Russian Talks Push for Summit in Cairo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters file photo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters file photo
TT

Palestinian-Russian Talks Push for Summit in Cairo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters file photo
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Reuters file photo

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed with a senior Palestinian official in Moscow Tuesday the latest developments and means to enhance the peace process.

During the meeting, Moscow signaled willingness to support an international gathering in Cairo to discuss the mechanism of reviving the peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel.

On Tuesday, Hussein el-Sheikh, a member of the central committee of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement, held talks in Moscow with Russian officials.

In a press statement following his meeting with Lavrov, el-Sheikh said discussions focused on the situation in the region and the upcoming Palestinian elections.

Moscow has welcomed Friday’s announcement from Abbas of the first full parliamentary and presidential elections in 15 years, scheduled to begin in May.

“This agreement is crucial for holding Palestinian-Israeli talks and solve all pending issues based on the two-state solution and in accordance with relevant UN resolutions, bilateral agreements and international law,” Lavrov was quoted as saying.

Palestinian ambassador to Russia Abdel Hafiz Nofal said the meeting tackled the resumption of talks between the Palestinians and Israel, the Russian role in pushing the peace process forward and the national reconciliation.

“We informed Moscow that resuming talks with the Israeli side does not mean immediately returning to the negotiation table. Palestine would only resume talks in accordance to a new mechanism based on an international formula that is not only under the control of the United States,” he said.

Also, the Palestinian side thanked Russia for its help in fighting the spread of the COVID-19 disease in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Russian authorities approved to provide Palestinians with 100,000 doses of Sputnik V vaccine. Moscow decided to urgently send 5,000 doses as a personal donation from Russian President Vladimir Putin.



Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
TT

Fears for Gaza Hospitals as Fuel and Aid Run Low

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP
The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled. - AFP

The Palestinian health ministry in Gaza said Friday that hospitals have only two days' fuel left before they must restrict services, after the UN warned aid delivery to the war-devastated territory is being crippled.

The warning came a day after the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant more than a year into the Gaza war.

The United Nations and others have repeatedly decried humanitarian conditions, particularly in northern Gaza, where Israel said Friday it had killed two commanders involved in Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack that triggered the war.

Gaza medics said an overnight Israeli raid on the cities of Beit Lahia and nearby Jabalia resulted in dozens killed or missing.

Marwan al-Hams, director of Gaza's field hospitals, told reporters all hospitals in the Palestinian territory "will stop working or reduce their services within 48 hours due to the occupation's (Israel's) obstruction of fuel entry".

World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was "deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of 80 patients, including 8 in the intensive care unit" at Kamal Adwan hospital, one of just two partly operating in northern Gaza.

Kamal Adwan director Hossam Abu Safia told AFP it was "deliberately hit by Israeli shelling for the second day" Friday and that "one doctor and some patients were injured".

Late Thursday, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for the Palestinian territories, Muhannad Hadi, said: "The delivery of critical aid across Gaza, including food, water, fuel and medical supplies, is grinding to a halt."

He said that for more than six weeks, Israeli authorities "have been banning commercial imports" while "a surge in armed looting" has hit aid convoys.

Issuing the warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, the Hague-based ICC said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe they bore "criminal responsibility" for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, and crimes against humanity including over "the lack of food, water, electricity and fuel, and specific medical supplies".

At least 44,056 people have been killed in Gaza during more than 13 months of war, most of them civilians, according to figures from Gaza's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.