The United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA) stopped the deliveries to 650,000 Palestinian refugees on Thursday due to fuel shortages after Israel imposed an embargo to the Palestinian enclave. The mission needs 7,000 liters of fuel per day to carry out its operations.
"Food aid is a matter of life and death for a significant section of the population. Moscow considers that such actions which can be regarded as a 'collective punishment'....should be avoided," ministry spokesman Boris Malakhov said.
Israel has used restrictions on fuel supplies and deliveries of other essential goods to Gaza as a tactic to try and pressure Hamas to stop rocket attacks on Israeli border towns, since the radical group seized control of the enclave from the Fatah movement in June.
The most recent embargo in the Palestinian enclave occurred after Palestinian militants attacked the Nahal Oz oil depot killing two Israeli workers on April 9.
Israel has resumed fuel supplies to Gaza's only power plant, which generates over 30% of the enclave's electricity demand, but gasoline or diesel fuel for vehicles have not been delivered for more than two weeks.
