Russia is "extremely alarmed by Israeli statements about the planned expansion of its military operation to the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
The implementation of this "dangerous scenario" will lead to "a catastrophic scale of the humanitarian disaster," Zakharova told a press briefing in Moscow.
The spokeswoman emphasized that more than a million residents of the Gaza Strip who fled to Rafah seeking shelter from fighting, will be caught in the epicenter of the hostilities.
"It is necessary to do everything possible to prevent such a development of events and our common task is to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible and ensure conditions for establishing sustainable channels of humanitarian assistance to the population of the enclave," she stressed.
Zakharova noted that after overcoming the acute phase of the crisis, it is necessary to restart political dialogue between the Palestinians and Israelis, without which sustainable peace in the region is impossible.
"The result of such a negotiation process should be the establishment of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital and existing in peace and security with Israel. The tragic events unfolding in the region show that there is no reasonable alternative to this approach," she said.
Since the cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7, the Israeli offensive into Gaza has killed more than 28,500 people and caused mass destruction and shortages of necessities.
The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicine, while much of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Commenting on results of the Feb. 8 parliamentary election, Zakharova said Moscow is "closely following" the developments.
"According to information from Russian observers who were present there, the elections took place, the authorities managed to ensure the free will of their citizens despite terrorist threats, despite the very difficult internal political situation," she said.
Russia looks forward to the early formation of the country's government, based on the announced voting results, for further joint work to strengthen bilateral relations, she said.
The crucial elections returned a hung parliament, with no party securing a simple majority in the lower house to form the government. Hence, the new government has to be forged through negotiations for a coalition.
