After hundreds of pro-Palestine protestors stormed into Russia’s Dagestan airport searching for Jewish passengers right after flight landed from Israel, Kremlin said it was due to “outside influence”.
Russian police had taken control of the airport after incident and around 60 people were arrested relating to the incident. The videos that went viral from the airport in Makhachkala showed protestors storming, breaking glass doors and shouting “Allahu Akbar”. The airport had to be shut down for few hours to control the mob.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said "ill-wishers" had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir up people in the north Caucasus, mainly Muslims.
Meanwhile, Russian news agency Tass reported following the events in Makhachkala, the Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold meeting to "discuss western attempts to split Russian society".
"Putin plans to hold a large representative meeting...at approximately 7 pm Moscow time and discuss the West's attempts to use events in the Middle East to split Russian society. A detailed conversation will take place," Peskov was quoted by Tass.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 8,306 Palestinians were killed since the Hamas attack.
Also, Israel has strengthened its ground attacks. Israel said it has attacked 600 targets in a day including "in the area of Al-Azhar university" from where it said an anti-tank missile was about to be launched. It also said "weapons warehouses, hiding places and gatherings of Hamas operatives and anti-tank positions" were targeted.
While speaking at the press conference, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said Israel was gradually moving ahead according to plan in the Gaza Strip.
"Forces were deployed in the north of Israel and ready for any scenario," said Hagari, reported Reuters. He also claimed that aircraft had killed several militants in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
