Over 600 people evacuated from the besieged Gaza Strip are being housed in 10 facilities across Russia, a Foreign Ministry official said Thursday.
Among the refugees are around 300 children, Yuri Gorlach, head of the Foreign Ministry’s situation and crisis center department, was cited by the state-run TASS news agency as saying.
An unnamed Russian diplomat told TASS that children were paid “increased interest” in the facilities, which provide warm clothing and psychological and medical assistance.
The refugees’ citizenship was not specified.
Gorlach also said Moscow has freed most of the Russian citizens who were taken hostage by Hamas militants.
“We’ve managed to rescue most of them, we expect that this work will continue, it is very complicated,” he said.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says that over 21,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since Hamas militants massacred Israeli citizens and took over 200 hostages on Oct. 7.
President Vladimir Putin has refused to condemn Hamas’ attack and compared Israel’s response to the Nazi siege of Leningrad in World War II.
Russia has officially backed calls for a ceasefire at the United Nations.