Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Israeli leaders consider all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to be “terrorists”, including children. Lavrov made his comment during a joint press conference following a meeting with Yemeni Foreign Minister Shaye Al-Zindani in Moscow.

He said that Israel wants to wait for the US presidential election in the hope that it will “remove the weight of pressure from the international community” to end the war in the Gaza Strip.
Lavrov pointed out that Russia condemned the attack on 7 October, but noted that so far more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children, which is a collective punishment that is both illegal and a violation of international humanitarian law.
He referred to statements by Israeli military leaders that “There are no civilians [in Gaza]” and “Everyone over the age of three is a terrorist.” The Russian official described such statements as “very dangerous,” and said that he would advise the Israelis “to avoid these ideas and ideology.”
Al-Zindani warned that the escalation of the situation in Gaza has a negative impact on the entire region, including the situation in Yemen. He also said the Houthis’ actions against Israeli and Israeli- bound ships in the Red Sea will not help solve the crisis in Gaza.