Russia's representative: Israel did not provide evidence of Hamas' use of hospitals for military purposes

Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, confirmed that Israel did not provide any evidence proving that Hamas used hospitals in the Gaza Strip for military purposes.

“Israel deprives the international community, including Russia, of the opportunity to provide the residents of Gaza with the necessary humanitarian aid ,” Nebenzia said at a Security Council session on the situation in the Middle East.

He added: "The injuries and mass killings of children committed by the Israeli army during its operations, as well as the attacks on schools and hospitals, which led to the killing of innocent people, raise grave concern."

He continued: “Other civilian targets are being attacked, such as mosques, churches, refugee camps, and United Nations sites where women and children in Gaza seek refuge to escape the bombing. This is a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. We have heard allegations about Hamas leadership sites and supposed hideouts. "It exists, but we have not yet seen convincing evidence of that."

He stressed that Russia hopes that the agreement between Hamas and Israel will be an important step to stop the escalation.

Newspaper: Finland intends to close all border crossings with Russia, leaving only one

Helsingin Sanomat newspaper reported that Finland will close all checkpoints on the border with Russia, except for Raia Iusuppa in the far north, and the decision will be officially announced on Wednesday.

The newspaper quoted the statement of the Finnish Deputy Minister of Justice, Mikko Puumalainen, “The Deputy Minister of Justice evaluated the draft resolution and the draft memorandum presented today from a legal point of view. A confidential memorandum on this issue is also available. Judging by the documents, there are no legal obstacles to further preparation of the proposed resolution.” ".

On November 18, the Finnish authorities closed 4 of the 8 checkpoints for four months: Valimaa, Noijamaa, Imatra and Nirala. The remaining four are located in northern Finland, and only two of them, Vartius and Sala, accept asylum applications.

Interior Minister Marie Rantanen said at the time that the authorities were preparing more restrictions.

The Finnish government seeks to completely close all checkpoints on the border with Russia.

The government says the reason is the uncontrolled flow of refugees from Somalia, Yemen, Syria and other countries who arrive from Russia and seek asylum at the border.

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that Moscow is ready to work with Helsinki to solve the refugee problem on the border.