MOSCOW, July 22 (UPI) -- Russia is urging Israel to ensure that aid for Lebanon is allowed to reach the country safely and without hindrance, officials in Moscow said Saturday.
Russia will send its first shipment of humanitarian goods to Lebanon via Cyprus on Monday, Novosti reported.
Israeli authorities have not given guarantees that humanitarian aid will be able to pass safely by land. The Israeli Air Force has orders to destroy all large vehicles, due to the risk that they may be transporting terrorist armaments, the ministry said.
"The main areas of humanitarian aid will be water supply and sanitation, healthcare, energy supply, food, and material-technical support for humanitarian operations," said Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Yakovenko.
Yakovenko said aid will focus on displaced people within Lebanon.
"According to preliminary estimates, the total number of these people may have reached 500,000, including 200,000 children," he said.
Hundreds have died in Israeli attacks on southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, following abductions of Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah militants.
