The Israeli forces struck three members of the Shia movement Hezbollah in the area of the border with Lebanon on Friday, the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) said.

“A short while ago, three Hezbollah terrorists were identified on the border with Lebanon. IDF aircraft struck the terrorists. In addition, a short while ago, IDF snipers opened fire toward gunmen that were identified operating in the area of the border with Lebanon,” the IDF wrote on its Telegram channel.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has expressed optimism that Israel and Palestine will start negotiations and consider the UN Security Council’s decisions.

“I hope everyone (Israel and Palestine) will come to reason and join the negotiating table,” the foreign minister said in an interview for a TV show at the Rossiya-1 broadcaster aired on Friday.

The minister added that it will be necessary for authorities of Israel and Palestine “to look on the map and coordinate all their actions with the UN Security Council’s decision and take into account the realities on the ground after 1967.”

On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was working on the evacuation of Russian citizens from the conflict zone.

The ministry added that over 1,000 people had applied for help, including the citizens of former Soviet countries and their family members.

Russia maintains “active contacts with the key regional actors in order to open humanitarian corridors, essential for evacuation and delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexey Zaitsev said.

The work on defining the Russian citizens who want to leave the conflict zone is being conducted as not everyone wants to leave or tries to approach the Russian diplomatic services, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday. 

(Sputnik/NAN)