Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday and voiced displeasure with “anti-Israel positions” taken by Moscow’s envoys at the United Nations, an Israeli statement said.
Russia backed a U.N. Security Council resolution for a Gaza truce, which was vetoed by the United States on Friday.
Speaking to Putin, Netanyahu also voiced “robust disapproval” of Russia’s “dangerous” cooperation with Iran, the Israeli statement said.
Fighting between Israel and Hamas intensified across Gaza on Monday, fuelling fears flagged by the United Nations at the weekend of a breakdown in public order and a mass exodus of Palestinians into Egypt.
Since the breakdown of a week-long ceasefire, Israel launched a ground offensive in the south last week and has since pushed from the east into the heart of the major city of Khan Younis, with warplanes attacking an area to the west.
Israelis fled to shelters after new warnings of rocket fire from Gaza, including in Tel Aviv.
The armed wing of Hamas said it was bombarding the city in response to “the Zionist massacres against civilians”.
Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a new call on X on Monday for Gaza residents to evacuate Gaza City and other areas of the north as well as Khan Younis in the south.
“Residents of the Gaza Strip, the IDF operates forcefully against Hamas and terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip, especially in the Khan Yunis area and in the north of the Strip,” it said, urging civilians to leave for their own safety.
U.N. officials say 1.9 million people – 85 percent of Gaza’s population – are displaced.
U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday the enclave was in collapse.
“I expect public order to completely break down soon and an even worse situation could unfold including epidemic diseases and increased pressure for mass displacement into Egypt,” he told an international conference in Qatar.
