Russian, Hamas officials discuss situation in Jerusalem, Gaza Strip

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian deputy foreign minister and deputy head of Hamas political bureau discussed the situation in the Gaza Strip and Jerusalem during a telephone conversation Wednesday.

Mousa Abu Marzook shared with Mikhail Bogdanov his assessments about the harsh escalation in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Marzook slammed "the illegal nature of Israeli actions against the Palestinian residents of the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem, as well as the inadmissibility of shelling residential areas in the Gaza Strip.”

He added that Hamas is ready to stop military action against Israel on a mutual basis if the international community will force Israel to stop harassing worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque and that the Israeli government would cease violent illegal measures against Arab residents, the statement added.

Bogdanov stressed the importance of an immediate cessation of violence and the inadmissibility of attacks on civilians, "regardless of their national and religious affiliation, including attacks on civilian targets in the Israeli and Palestinian territories."