There is no hope that the armed confrontation between Israel and Hamas will end in the near future, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
"There were wars, there were terrorist attacks, everything was there [in the Middle East], but what happened on October 7 and has been going on for two months now ... unfortunately, there is no hope that this will end in the near future," Zakharova told the Solovyov Live show.
On October 7, the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas launched a surprise large-scale rocket attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip, breaching the border and killing and taking captives in nearby Israeli military sites and communities. The movement said its operation, Al-Aqsa Flood, was in response to Israeli provocations and occupation of Palestinian territories.
Israel launched retaliatory strikes and ordered a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to more than 2 million people, cutting off supplies of water, food and fuel. On October 27, Israel launched a large-scale ground incursion into Gaza, ostensibly to eliminate Hamas fighters and rescue hostages.
Later, Qatar mediated a deal between Israel and Hamas on a temporary truce and the exchange of some of the prisoners and hostages, as well as the delivery of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. The truce was extended several times, but on Friday, the fighting was resumed.
The escalation of the conflict has resulted in the deaths of some 1,200 people in Israel and more than 18,000, mostly children and women, in Gaza. Meanwhile, at least 256 Palestinians have died as a result of Israeli violence in the West Bank.