Lavrov warns Israel-Gaza war risks regional crisis

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that the conflict in Gaza could become a regional crisis, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.

The Russian Foreign Minister also mentioned on Thursday that attributing blame to Iran was only further inflaming the situation, reports Al Jazeera.

The remarks by Russia's top diplomat came days after President Vladimir Putin said he believed no major actors wanted the war between Israel and Hamas to escalate, reports Al Jazeera.

Earlier this week, Russia proposed amendments to a draft UN resolution that would have called for an "immediate full" ceasefire and ending attacks on civilians, but it was rejected by the Security Council.

The United States vetoed the final draft, which called for humanitarian pauses, while Russia abstained.

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said the draft had "no clear call for a ceasefire" and would "not help to stop the bloodshed".

Russia has so far taken a careful approach to the latest escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that erupted on 7 October, when Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack inside Israel that has killed some 1,400 people. Since the attack, about 3,500 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

"In my view it is unacceptable," said Putin of Israel's air campaign in Gaza. "More than 2 million people live there [in Gaza]. Far from all of them support Hamas by the way, far from all. But all of them have to suffer, including women and children."

Russia, which supports an independent Palestinian state with occupied East Jerusalem as its capital, has not labelled Hamas a "terrorist" group like many Western states, says Al Jazeera.

Putin has over the years maintained close ties with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite key foreign policy clashes between the two states, including over the war in Syria.