Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that prospected heavy casualties among civilians in Gaza “would be unacceptable” in the event Israel carried out an incursion into the strip.
TASS news agency quoted Putin in a statement at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) Summit held in Bishkek, the Kyrgyz capital, as saying that heavy losses would be inflicted among the civilian residents in case Israel waged a ground operation. “This is not acceptable,” and the employment of heavy armor in residential areas will lead to dire consequences,” he said.
Putin reiterated that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be through negotiations and should lead to establishing a Palestinian state.
His words coincided with reports that Israel warned civilians living in northern sector of Gaza city to move to the southern part, as it was amassing forces equipped with tanks and artillery around the strip in preparation for the ground advance into the enclave to crush the Palestinian group Hamas
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Source: Kuwait News Agency