By RIA Novosti
Moscow : Russia Thursday said it endorses the UN secretary general’s statement that Israel should reconsider its position on the Gaza Strip.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had called on Israel to reconsider its position on Gaza as it was out of line with its commitments on international humanitarian law regarding civilians. “It’s hard to disagree with such assessments,” he said.
Israel’s security cabinet Wednesday had declared the Gaza Strip “an enemy entity” and voted to toughen sanctions against the Palestinian enclave, controlled since June by radical Islamist movement Hamas.
Israel’s key ministers and security officials unanimously backed cutting fuel and power supplies to the small region, home to 1.5 million people, if missiles continue to be fired from Gaza on Israeli territory.
A missile strike on a military base near the border with Gaza last week left 69 Israeli conscripts injured.
Kamynin said Moscow has repeatedly confirmed its position that missile strikes from Gaza on Israeli territory threatening civilian Israelis are unacceptable.
“But Palestinian civilians should not be held accountable for that. And in any case, not violence or pressure, but moving towards a political settlement on an international-legal basis could bring peace, security and calm to all regional nations,” Kamynin said.