Ahmad 
Russia has begun its push to impose formal sanctions on Israel for the first time since the start of the Israeli military’s war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, has formally called for UN Security Council sanctions on Israel.
The request shows escalating differences between the two countries, which began with Israel’s support for Ukraine in the Russian war, as well as accusations by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government of Moscow of communicating with Hamas.
This came during a session to discuss the risks of food insecurity in the Gaza Strip, under the title “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict”.
Nebenzia noted that a report distributed by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) underscored the difficulties in providing humanitarian aid to Gaza due to Israeli bureaucracy and logistical obstacles set by Tel Aviv.
Nebenzia also stressed the need for an immediate ceasefire to prevent famine in Gaza, stressing the need for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law.
In a related context, the UN Security Council session witnessed a debate between the representative of Russia and the representative of the United States, where the former accused the second of allowing Israel to use food as a weapon in war, and pointed out that the draft resolution submitted by the United States does not call for a ceasefire, but rather gives “the power to kill.”
As part of the international effort, the Russian media agency RIA Novosti announced that representatives of Fatah and Hamas would meet in Moscow to discuss the formation of a Palestinian unity government and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Israel has faced mounting international legal pressure from its war on Gaza since October, which has claimed tens of thousands of Palestinian casualties, and has for the first time brought it accountable to the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians in a South African case.