A senior Hamas official, Mr Musa Abu Marzoukwho is visiting Moscow, said today that the Palestinian organization is trying to locate eight hostages who have dual Russian and Israeli citizenship, in order to release them.

“We are now looking for the people pointed out to us by the Russian side. It is difficult, but we are looking for them. And when we find them, we will release them,” the official said, according to the state news agency. Ria Novosti.

He said he received from the Russian Foreign Ministry a list of eight names of Russian Israelis who may be held in Gaza Strip.

“We are very diligent with this list and we will treat it with care because we see Russia as a very close friend of ours,” added Musa Abu Marzouk.

The Hamas official arrived yesterday, Thursday, at Moscow for talks, for the first time since the conflict with Israel broke out three weeks ago.

The discussions mainly concerned the release of hostages and the removal of Russian citizens.

On Tuesday, the Kremlin said there had been no progress on the release of Russian hostages held by Hamas, even admitting it did not know how many there were.

Hundreds of Russian nationals live in the Gaza Strip, which is targeted by Israeli bombardment.

Russia, unlike the USAdoes not consider Hamas a terrorist organization and still maintains relations with the Palestinian Islamist movement.

Although Moscow condemned the attacks launched by Hamas on October 7 against Israeli civilians, it insists on the need for a Palestinian state to end the conflict and warned Israel of the consequences of a blind and murderous retaliation.