Russia invites Palestinian factions to conference in Moscow

On February 18, Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Russia had invited Palestinian factions to attend a conference in Moscow on February 26.

Patients and residents at Al-Shifa hospital in the Gaza Strip. (Source: AFP)

Indicating that the PA is ready to cooperate with the Hamas Islamist movement, Prime Minister Shtayyeh stressed that in the upcoming meeting in Moscow, the PA delegation will assess Hamas' goodwill. He affirmed that Palestinians need to unite with each other but to be part of that unity, Hamas needs to meet a number of specific conditions.

The information was released in the context of the prospect of reaching a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in the Gaza Strip remains very unclear. According to the Gaza Health Authority, the war that has lasted since October 2023 has killed at least 28,985 people here and about 68,880 people have been injured.

Meanwhile, on February 18, Nasser Hospital, the second largest in the Gaza Strip, was completely paralyzed, with only four medical staff left to care for patients. Located in Khan Younis, Nasser Hospital is an important facility in the health system in the southern Gaza Strip.

Gaza Health Authority spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said the facility was paralyzed by a lack of fuel and fierce fighting around the hospital. The hospital's shutdown could affect hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have taken refuge in Khan Younis and Rafah after fleeing their homes.

As of February 18, Nasser was also the largest hospital still operating in the Gaza Strip. This week, the hospital was surrounded and searched by the Israeli army.

The city of Khan Younis is also the main front in Israel's military campaign. The army announced that in the past 24 hours, it had killed dozens of Palestinian gunmen and seized a large amount of weapons in operations involving soldiers, tanks and air support.

The fighting near the hospitals has become increasingly fierce as Israel tightens its siege on Hamas and accuses the group of placing its command posts near or below the hospitals as a shield. However, Hamas has always denied these allegations.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/nga-moi-cac-phe-phai-cua-nguoi-palestine-toi-hoi-nghi-tai-moscow-261273.html