Russian President Vladimir Putin cautioned Israel on Friday against laying siege to Gaza in the same way that Nazi Germany besieged Leningrad, saying a ground offensive there would lead to an "absolutely unacceptable" number of civilian casualties.
Putin said Israel had been subjected to "an attack unprecedented in its cruelty" by Hamas militants but was responding with cruel methods of its own.
He said there had been calls even in the US for a blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip on a par with "the siege of Leningrad during World War II".
"In my view it is unacceptable," Putin told reporters at a summit in Kyrgyzstan. "More than 2 million people live there. Far from all of them support Hamas by the way, far from all. But all of them have to suffer, including women and children.
"Of course, it's hard for anyone to agree with this."
His criticism of Israel was made all the more stinging by the reference to the 1941-44 siege of Leningrad and the implied comparison between Israel and Hitler's Germany, with potential for causing deep offence in Israel.
Putin said, however, Israel had the right to defend itself.
He was speaking after Israel's military called for all civilians of Gaza City, more than 1 million people, to relocate south within 24 hours, as it massed tanks for an expected ground invasion in response to last Saturday's devastating Hamas attack.
Putin said a ground attack would lead to "serious consequences for all sides".
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"And most importantly, the civilian casualties will be absolutely unacceptable. Now the main thing is to stop the bloodshed," he said.
Thousands of civilians have been killed in the Ukraine war Putin launched in February 2022, which has now been raging for nearly 20 months and has included the prolonged siege of Ukrainian cities such as Mariupol and Bakhmut.
Russian mediation?
Putin called for negotiations in the Middle East, saying Moscow was "ready to coordinate with all constructively minded partners". He said the key to resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was the creation of an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Russia said it can help mediate because it has relations with Israel, the Palestinians, groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran and major Arab powers.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held separate conversations in Moscow on Friday with the ambassadors of Israel, Lebanon and Iran, and the foreign ministry said Moscow's contacts with Hamas would also continue.
In the past week, both Moscow and Kyiv have sought to compare the events in the Middle East to the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine has compared Moscow to Hamas while Russia has said the West has ignored the fate of the Palestinians while supporting Israel.
"More than a million people from Gaza must urgently evacuate... at the demand of the Israeli army. Yet all the 'Western partners' are shamefully silent," former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said.
"I wonder what their reaction would be to a similar demand to the Kyiv regime to evacuate one of [its] major cities?"
