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Recognition of a Palestinian state is "the best way to isolate Hamas", French President Emmanuel Macron said in a TV interview with Israeli broadcaster Channel 12 on Thursday. France is expected to officially recognise Palestine as a state early next week at the UN General Assembly. Daniel Quinn reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Israel took some "genuinely Palestinian lands" mainly through the "use of military force." Speaking at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow, Putin said the Palestinian problem is "in the heart of everyone who professes Islam, and they perceive it all as a manifestation of injustice, elevated to an unthinkable degree." "The Palestinian issue is at the heart of every person in this region. Yes, I believe that in the heart of everyone who professes Islam... Everything that is happening – not only now, but for decades – is perceived as a...

Russian nationals may have been among those captured by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi has claimed. The diplomat made the remarks to TASS news agency on Sunday, explaining that the militants had taken a “large” number of hostages during the incursion from Gaza into southern Israel.