Russia's Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova on Tuesday announced that she appealed to senior United Nations (UN) and other officials to take action to secure the release of Russian nationals held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip eight months after their kidnapping.
According to a post on the Telegram messaging app, Moskalkova launched the appeal after meeting in Moscow with relatives of those still being held. "In one conversation, one of the mothers told me details of the hostages' situation," she wrote.
Moskalkova said she had appealed to the UN High Commissioner For Human Rights, Volker Turk, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, and other officials "for the rapid return home of our compatriots."
There are 120 hostages left in Gaza, including at least 40 whom Israeli authorities have declared dead in absentia. News reports have put at eight the number of hostages holding Russian passports, including three who were released.
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Rescued hostage Andrey Kozlov (center) and his family
(Photo: Hostages and Missing Families Forum)
An Israeli-Russian dual national Andrey Kozlov was among the four hostages the IDF rescued in an operation on Saturday.
Earlier in May, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a Gazan terrorist group, released a propaganda video of Alexander (Sasha) Trufanov, another Russian-Israeli dual national held hostage in the Palestinian territory.