The Hamas movement considers Israel's call for the Palestinians to leave the Gaza Strip to be a "genocide", Hamas spokesman Husam Badran told Sputnik on Tuesday.
"Those are clear calls for the transfer of the Palestinian people and preparation for genocide, and therefore the world must fight them on this basis," Badran said, commenting on the call made by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on October 8.
The spokesman also said that the Hamas movement and Palestinians will not leave the Gaza Strip.
“This is our land, and we will hold on to it and will not leave,” Badran said.
Apart from that, the spokesman noted that the movement does not have any accurate data on the number and nationality of its hostages yet.
"As for prisoners, today there is no specific information about either the number or citizenship, and everything that is said on this issue is inaccurate information," Badran said.
The spokesman also could not confirm if there were any people with Russian citizenship among these hostages.
"We are still in the midst of this battle, and now all efforts are aimed at strengthening the Palestinian position on the ground ... Therefore, a detailed statement on this topic now does not make sense," the spokesman added.
Earlier, Israeli President Isaac Herzog urged the world community to condemn the actions of the Hamas movement.
"I call on all nations around the world: first, most importantly, make clear and loud condemnations of Hamas’s actions, just as you have condemned the abhorrent and unspeakable actions of ISIS [Islamic State, a terrorist group banned in Russia], because today they are one and the same," Herzog said in a video statement posted on social media.
He also urged countries to declare Hamas in its entirety "a terrorist organization."
On October 7, Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise large-scale attack on Israel, prompting Israel to declare a state of war the following day.
On October 9, Israel put the Gaza Strip under full blockade, with no food, gas or electricity supplies. Both Israel and Palestine have so far reported hundreds of dead and thousands of injured as a result of the escalation.
Amid the latest round of hostilities, Russia called for peaceful resolution, with the country's foreign minister, Serget Lavrov, pointing out on Monday that "there can be only one initiative [on a peaceful settlement - ed.] — the decisions on the settlement of the Palestinian problem that were adopted in the United Nations organization."