MOSCOW: Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will visit Moscow to discuss the Gaza war with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a Palestinian envoy said.
Russia’s TASS news agency cited the Palestinian ambassador in Moscow as saying Abbas will arrive on Monday and meet Putin on Tuesday.
Abbas heads the Fatah Palestinian movement, a rival to Hamas.
Ambassador Abdel Hafiz Nofal said the two leaders would discuss events in Gaza since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel.
“They will discuss Russia’s role and what can be done.”
He added: “We have a very difficult situation, and Russia is a country that is close to us. We need to consult each other.”
Moscow, for years, tried to balance relations with all major players in the Middle East — including Israel and the Palestinians.
But since the Israel-Hamas war and Russia’s offensive on Ukraine, Putin has moved closer to Hamas and Iran.
The Kremlin has repeatedly criticized Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 attacks and called for restraint.
Also on Sunday, Israeli emergency services and the army said a civilian was killed and another wounded in a shooting in the occupied West Bank.
Medical teams “pronounced a man in his 20s dead” while a 33-year-old man was evacuated by helicopter “with gunshot wounds to his lower limbs,” an emergency services statement said.
The army said the dead man was an Israeli civilian.
“Terrorists opened fire from a passing vehicle at a number of vehicles in the area,” an army statement said.
“As a result of the attack, an Israeli civilian was killed, and an additional Israeli civilian was injured and is currently receiving treatment from medical teams.
“Soldiers have begun pursuing the terrorists, blocking routes and conducting thorough searches in the area.”
The attack took place in the Jordan Valley in the northern West Bank.