Russia expects a lasting stabilization of the situation in the Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip following the ceasefire and hostage release agreement with Israel, Russian diplomacy said today.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said she hoped that the implementation of the agreement would also create "preconditions for improving the situation in the Middle East region as a whole, including in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen".
The agreement initially provides for a 42-day ceasefire starting on Sunday, the eve of Donald Trump's inauguration as US President, and the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
The agreement was announced on Wednesday by mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States, but Israel today denounced alleged attempts by Hamas to try to change the text and made approval conditional on clarifications from the Palestinian extremist group.
"We hope that the implementation of the current agreement will contribute to the sustainable stabilization of the situation in Gaza and create the conditions for the return of all temporarily displaced people," Zakharova said, as quoted by the French news agency AFP.
Russia hopes that the agreement will also allow "the start of work to restore what was destroyed during the military actions," the diplomat said, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
Zakharova also said that Moscow hopes that Russian citizen Alexander Trufanov, who is being held in Gaza, will be included in the planned release of Hamas hostages and Israeli prisoners.
"These important agreements have become possible largely thanks to the patient and persistent work of the Qatari and Egyptian mediators. Their diplomatic efforts undoubtedly deserve the highest praise," she added.
The ceasefire was reached after 15 months of fighting and tens of thousands of deaths in a conflict triggered in October 2023 by a Hamas attack on Israel, which retaliated with a large-scale offensive in the Gaza Strip.
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