Russia condemns Israel's plan to take control over the city of Gaza: “It risks aggravating humanitarian catstroph”

Russia has condemned and rejected Israel's plan to expand its military operation in the Gaza strip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, according to Reuters.

“The implementation of such decisions and plans, which cause condemnation and rejection, risks further aggravating the already extremely dramatic situation in the Palestinian enclave, which presents all the signs of a humanitarian catastrophe,” the Ministry statement said.

Israel's political and security office approved a plan for taking control over the city of Gaza on Friday morning, in the context in which the country extends its military operations, despite the increasingly intense critics in the country and abroad on the devastating war that lasts almost two years.

According to an Israeli official, quoted by Axios, the plan provides for the evacuation of Palestinian civilians in the city of Gaza and the launch of a terrestrial offensive in this area.

On Saturday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Muslim nations must act in Unison and mobilize the international opposition against the Plan of Israel to take control over the city of Gaza.

The head of Egyptian diplomacy also said that there is full coordination with Turkey regarding the Gaza strip and referred to a statement issued on Saturday by the Ministerial Committee of OCI, which condemns the Plan of Israel.

The OIC committee said that the Israel's plan marked “a dangerous and unacceptable escalation, a flagrant violation of international law and an attempt to strengthen the illegal occupation”, warning that it would “destroy any opportunity of peace.”

Mediation teams in Egypt, Qatar and the United States have been working for months to reach an armistice between Israel and Hamas.