Death Toll Continues To Rise: Putin Warns Israel, Netanyahu Says Russia Is Close To Attack

The impact of Israeli airstrikes on Palestinians. (Wikimedia Commons/RafahKid Kid)

JAKARTA - Israel continues to carry out airstrikes on Hamas territory, retaliating with rocket attacks by Hamas, although condemnation and calls for an international ceasefire continue to flow.

Since the fighting began on May 10, Palestinian health officials say 228 people have been killed in aerial bombardments that exacerbate Gaza's already dire humanitarian situation, reuters reported.

The growing number of fatalities has made Russia concerned about the situation. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov urged Israel to carefully consider the actions they are taking.

"In an honest exchange of opinions about the situation in Israeli-Palestinian relations, including those in the Gaza Strip. The Russian side expressed extreme concern over the escalation of tensions and stressed that there should not be measures full of more civilian casualties," Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said, impersonating Bogdanov, as Neewsweek of TASS said Thursday, May 20.

Meanwhile Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was closely monitoring developments in the region. He urged both sides to be cautious in the statement. He also said Russia was ready to host dialogue on the Palestinian and Israeli conflicts.

Putin's warning

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin last week warned that the escalation between Israelis and Palestinians posed a direct threat to Russia's security.

Even in a meeting with the Russian Security Council, the President requested a discussion of the situation in Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip first, before the scheduled agenda.

Long before the anniversary on Friday, it turned out that Russia and Israel had been at a point of almost engaged in war, which could still be avoided thanks to President Putin's good relations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In 2019, Netanyahu revealed Putin had told him that the two countries would be at war if not for their close ties.

"Vladimir Putin told me that if it wasn't for our relationship, we could find ourselves in the middle of a military clash. Just because we meet every few months, this is avoided," Netanyahu told Army Radio as quoted by the Express Thursday, May 20.

"We've been close to a collision four times. Our aircraft in dense Syrian airspace almost collided with a Russian aircraft," he said.

Israel is currently conducting hundreds of airstrikes in Syria targeting Hezbollah's arms shipments and Iranian military installations.