Russian Envoy: There Are No Safe Places in Gaza

Vasily Nebenzya, permanent representative of Russia to the United Nations (UN), said that there are no safe places in Gaza Strip, amid continued Israeli shelling of the Strip.

The Russian diplomat added - at a meeting of the UN Security Council on the situation in the Middle East - that "deliberate strikes on civilian facilities constitute a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law."

Nebenzya continued - according to the Russian news agency TASS - "The mosques that were attacked recently are located in the south of the Gaza Strip, which confirms that there simply are no safe areas for civilians in the Strip anymore."

Earlier, Russian ambassador to UN said, "This is not the time to discuss what will happen in Gaza. Now is the time to stop the fighting and save the lives of civilians who are being killed on a large scale." He added, "We are not in the timeframe to discuss the future of Gaza, we need to save its present."