According to Russian media reports, Hamas officials said they considered all hostages held as Israelis, regardless of their nationality. Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas's Politburo, said in an interview that Russia, the United States, France and other countries have demanded that Hamas release its detained citizens. He said Hamas would seriously consider Russia's request because of its special relationship with Russia. Abu Marzouk also stressed that Hamas does not consider the hostages to be Russian, French or American, for whom all the captured are Israelis. At the same time, he added that despite hopes that the men would be rescued, Hamas would not release any hostages until Israel agreed to a ceasefire.
In addition, Abu Hamid, a member of the Hamas delegation, told the media that Hamas needs time to identify and find all the hostages taken to Gaza by Palestinian factions. The Russian ambassador to Israel said that it is believed that there are three Russian Israeli citizens among them. Israel said that more than half of the hostages held were holding foreign passports from different countries, including citizens of Thailand, Nepal, the Great Power, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and the Philippines. It is worth mentioning that Russia this week defended the invitation of the Hamas delegation to visit Moscow and opposed criticism from the Israeli side. Russia said it was necessary to maintain contacts with all parties to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. On this matter, we can ponder a question: How to ensure the safety of the hostages and at the same time promote the two sides of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict to reach a ceasefire agreement?
Israel announced its intention to eliminate Hamas in retaliation for the October 7 attacks. This decision caused regret in Russia and urged Moscow to expel the Hamas delegation. Although the Hamas delegation met with the Russian Foreign Ministry, it did not meet with President Putin or Kremlin officials. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia believes that it is necessary to continue to engage with all parties, and at the same time will continue to dialogue with Israel. Russia has consistently blamed the crisis on the failure of U.S. diplomacy. The Russian Embassy in Israel issued a statement reiterating Moscow's call for an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages held by Hamas, and the provision of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza. More than 7,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gaza officials.
Peskov said Russia would not get involved in the conflict because the United States attacked weapons and ammunition facilities in Syria on Friday in retaliation for an attack on U.S. troops by Iranian-backed militias. However, he also added that the US strike would further increase tensions throughout the region, which is very bad. Topic: Why did Israel announce that it wanted to eliminate Hamas? Please share your views and opinions.