Moscow Condemns Israel's Shelling of UN Shelter in Gaza

July 31, 2014

Russia's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned an attack by Israeli forces in Gaza that killed at least 19 people at a United Nations refugee camp a day earlier.

Warning that recent fighting between Israel and Palestine threatens to be "the bloodiest in the entire history of the conflict," the Foreign Ministry said Moscow was "deeply troubled by the growing number of victims among the civilian population in Gaza."

The priority should now be to "conduct a humanitarian cease-fire without delay, [and] stop the bloodshed and suffering of peaceful civilians," the statement said, adding that Russia had supported Egypt's efforts in brokering a cease-fire.

According to Pierre Krahenbuhl, commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, there were at least 3,300 people staying in the shelter at the time of the attack, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

Another 90 people were injured in the shelling of a girls' school sheltering displaced people, an attack by the Israeli military that was denounced by world leaders in the wake of the attack.

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