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50-minute phone call: What Israel's Netanyahu and Russia's Putin talked about
Benjamin Netanyahu requested that Russia put pressure on the Red Cross to visit and provide medicine for the estimated 137 hostages by Hamas.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at length with Russian president Vladimir Putin about Israel’s war against Hamas and the situation in the region, the prime minister’s office said. During the 50-minute call Benjamin Netanyahu strongly criticized what he termed “dangerous co-operation” between Russia and Iran. He also expressed displeasure with the positions put forward by Russian representatives at the UN and other forums against Israel.
“The prime minister emphasized that any country that would suffer an attack such as Israel experienced would act with no less force than the one with which Israel operates,” his office said.
"Any country that had been struck with a criminal terrorist assault such as Israel experienced would have reacted with no less force than Israel is using," he told Vladimir Putin.
Benjamin Netanyahu requested that Russia put pressure on the Red Cross to visit and provide medicine for the estimated 137 hostages still held by Hamas. No humanitarian organization has visited them since they were taken by the militant group. In Israel's retaliatory air, ground and sea assault targeting Hamas, at least 17,700 people, mostly women and children, have been killed in the Gaza Strip.
Read more: Gaza health situation 'catastrophic', diseases could spread, WHO chief warns
However, the Kremlin hasn’t released a readout of the conversation. This comes as Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel in the October 7 massacre, including babies, children and the elderly, and kidnapped about 240 back to Gaza. Some of those taken hostage have since been released in an exchange deal with Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
The US vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire in Gaza as Israel faces pressure about the civilian toll in Gaza.
