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Putin 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 amassed tanks ahead of an
expected ground invasion in response to a devastating weekend
attack by the Islamist militant group Hamas.
Putin, whose own military has wrought devastation in Ukraine and
killed thousands of civilians in nearly 20 months of war, said
that using heavy weaponry in residential areas was "fraught with
serious consequences for all sides".
"And most importantly, the civilian casualties will be
absolutely unacceptable. Now the main thing is to stop the
bloodshed," he said, speaking at a summit in Kyrgyzstan with
other countries that were once part of the Soviet Union.
Putin said, however, that Israel had the right to defend itself
after being subjected to "an attack unprecedented in its
cruelty".
He called for collective efforts to secure an early ceasefire
and stabilize the situation on the ground.
"Russia is ready to coordinate with all constructively minded
partners," Putin said.
He said negotiations should be directed towards a two-state
solution of the Middle East conflict in which Palestinians would
get their own state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Putin repeated previous criticism of the United States, saying
the current tragedy was the outcome of the failure of U.S.
policy in the Middle East.
Russia has longstanding ties to both Israel and the
Palestinians, including Hamas, but its relations with Israel
have come under strain since the start of the Ukraine war.
On Thursday, Moscow urged Israel to agree to a ceasefire to
allow food and medicine into Gaza and said it was unacceptable
that the "indiscriminate" bombing of the small, blockaded
coastal territory was causing so many civilian casualties.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said a deputy minister, Mikhail
Bogdanov, met the Lebanese ambassador to Moscow on Friday to
discuss the crisis.
It said their conversation emphasized "the inadmissibility of
the spread of armed confrontation to Lebanon and other states in
the region, the danger of a growing humanitarian crisis and a
new massive influx of Palestinian refugees".
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Mark Trevelyan and Alexander
Marrow; editing by Mark Heinrich)
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