Hamas recently signaled that it would prioritize releasing two hostages with Russian citizenship still held in the Gaza Strip

A Russian government plane landed in Israel last Thursday, without announcements from either Moscow or Jerusalem, triggering questions about Russia’s role in negotiations with the Hamas terror group and Iran.

The plane landed last Thursday at Ben-Gurion Airport, on the last day of the Sukkot holiday, and no official explanation or information were provided regarding the likely visit by a Russian government delegation.

Israeli media officials declined to answer media queries regarding the visit.

Notably, Hezbollah ceased its virtually non-stop rocket and missile fire and drone launches during the entire time that the Russian plane was on the ground in Israel.

The terror group then resumed its aerial bombardment once the plane had taken off to return to Moscow and was out of Israeli airspace.

“For several weeks, Russia has been trying to mediate between Iran and Israel. This can be understood from Putin’s words, from meetings between Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Bogdanov and the Israeli Ambassador to Russia,” Alex Tenzer, a Russian media expert, told Hebrew-language outlet Ynet.

“Russia is trying to protect its influence in the Middle East, which is weakening day by day due to the weakening of Iran.”

In December 2023, three Israeli hostages with Russian citizenship were released by Hamas, in a deal between the terror group and Russia.

That deal was completely independent of a hostage deal between the Israeli government and Hamas, which saw the return of dozens of captives kidnapped on October 7th, alongside with thousands of Palestinian terrorists from Israeli prisons.

Last week, the deputy head of the Hamas politburo, Musa Abu Marzouk, was hosted by the Kremlin to discuss a potential hostage deal.

Abu Marzouk, who is classified by the U.S. government as a “specially designated global terrorist,” said that Hamas was willing to have Russia act as a negotiator.

Hamas would “prioritize releasing the two Russian citizen hostages” still held in the Strip, even before the release of women or injured captives, Abu Marzouk told Russian media.

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