ISTANBUL

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday his people will “never leave Gaza” as he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Russia.

“The Palestinians will never leave Gaza, just as they will never leave the West Bank. This is an important thing. (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu, in turn, is trying to do this, to drive the Palestinians out of their homeland, but we will never do this,” Abbas said during the talks on the third and final day of the summit in Kazan.

He said he knows Egypt and Jordan do not support that policy and underlined that Gaza is an integral part of the Palestinian state.

“Therefore, we intend to work to end the occupation, so that we can then live in a single Palestinian state -- together with Gaza, together with the West Bank,” said Abbas.

The Palestinian president said his people only want a cease-fire, which he said is something that everyone is demanding, in principle, further expressing hope that Palestinians will be able to achieve it and begin delivering increasing humanitarian aid.

He added that Palestine is pleased with Russia’s “strong position” in support of the Palestinian issue and the “sovereign right of the Palestinian people to achieve all their goals and create our state.”

Putin said the situation in the region is deteriorating, and that tensions are growing in the West Bank.

“Russia's principled position is consistent and absolutely non-opportunistic. We firmly advocate an early end to the bloodshed and the provision of humanitarian access to all those in need. We call on all parties to exercise restraint,” said Putin.

He indicated that a lasting peace can only be achieved through a “political and diplomatic settlement on the known international legal grounds, on the known international legal basis, which provides for the creation of an independent sovereign Palestinian state that would coexist in peace and security with Israel.”

Israel has continued a brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last year by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

More than 42,800 people, mostly women and children, have been killed, and over 100,500 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the territory amid a blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.