⚡️ Russia's Foreign Ministry statement on the tragedy in Gaza

On the evening of October 17, the al-Ahli Hospital in the centre of Gaza was destroyed in a missile attack. According to the Health Ministry of Palestine, at least 500 people have been killed and over 1,000 have been wounded. The overwhelming majority of the victims were hospital patients and civilians, many of them women and children, who were sheltering in the building.

❗️ Moscow is deeply shocked. We express our deep condolences to the families of the victims and the people and government of Palestine.

We again urge the conflicting sides to de-escalate hostilities without delay and to respect international humanitarian law. We reaffirm Russia’s position of principle on the unacceptability of violence against civilians and strikes on medical facilities or any other civilian infrastructure facilities.

👉 We emphasise that it is necessary to consolidate international efforts towards an immediate ceasefire and to open humanitarian corridors in order to give badly needed support to people in Gaza, including deliveries of food, medicines and fuel, to evacuate everyone who wants to leave, and to prevent the looming humanitarian disaster.

We point out that attempts to politicise this issue are unacceptable and irresponsible. We believe that the discussion of the relevant initiatives at the UN Security Council must above all take into account the interests of the people affected by the conflict.

⚠️ We would like to repeat our advice for Russian citizens to refrain from travelling to Israel and the Palestinian territories.

🎙 Joint Statement In Support of the Efforts to Strengthen the United Nations Secretary-General’s Mechanism for Investigation of the Alleged Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons

📍New York, 17 October, 2023

We, the 🇻🇪 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso,
🇨🇫 the Central African Republic, 🇮🇷 the Islamic Republic of Iran,
🇰🇬 the Kyrgyz Republic, 🇨🇳 the People’s Republic of China,
🇧🇾 the Republic of Belarus, 🇰🇿 the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Republic of Mali, 🇳🇮 the Republic of Nicaragua, 🇹🇯 the Republic of Tajikistan, 🇷🇺 the Russian Federation, 🇪🇷 the State of Eritrea,
🇸🇾 the Syrian Arab Republic, reaffirm our dedication to protecting humanity from chemical and biological warfare, recognize the common interest of all humankind in excluding completely the possibility of the use of chemical, bacteriological (biological) and toxin weapons.

Convinced that such use would be repugnant to the conscience of humankind, we are determined to condemn any use of toxic chemicals, biological agents or toxins as weapons by anyone, anywhere, at anytime, and to hold accountable those responsible for any such use.

We underline that the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (CWC), the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on Their Destruction (BWC) and the Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare (Geneva Protocol) are essential for international peace and security.

❗️ We call upon the UN Secretary-General to organize a review of the current UNSGM guidelines and procedures, the UN General Assembly document А/44/561 dated October 4, 1989, in which they are set out, in accordance with paragraph 104 and by analogy to the update conducted in 2007.

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