According to a report by Anadolu Agency on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, has said that the ongoing prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas, while welcome on humanitarian grounds, will not bring lasting peace to the Middle East unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established in line with long-standing United Nations resolutions.
In a statement shared on his Telegram channel on Monday, Oct. 13, Medvedev said the release of hostages and prisoners marked progress but did little to address the root causes of the decades-long conflict.
“Releasing Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners is a good thing, of course, but it won’t solve anything,” he wrote. “Until a full-fledged Palestinian state is created in accordance with the well-known UN resolutions, nothing will change. The war will continue. Everyone understands this.”
His comments came as Hamas released 20 Israeli hostages early Monday in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees under the first phase of a ceasefire arrangement brokered in Gaza. The Palestinian group also confirmed it would hand over the remains of four deceased Israeli captives later in the day as part of the same deal.
The exchange follows a plan first outlined by U.S. President Donald Trump on September 29, which proposed a phased ceasefire, mutual prisoner releases, and the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. Trump announced last week that Israel and Hamas had agreed to implement the first phase of the plan, which came into effect on Friday.
Under the second phase of the proposal, a new governing structure is expected to be established in Gaza without Hamas’ participation. The plan also calls for the formation of a multinational peacekeeping force and the eventual disarmament of Hamas as part of broader efforts to stabilize the enclave.
Despite the breakthrough, Medvedev insisted that temporary truces and prisoner swaps cannot substitute for a comprehensive political solution. He reiterated Russia’s long-standing position that peace in the Middle East hinges on the creation of an independent Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Since Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in October 2023, more than 67,800 Palestinians mostly women and children have been killed, according to local health authorities. The prolonged bombardment has left much of the enclave in ruins, displacing millions and triggering a humanitarian catastrophe that international observers warn could take generations to recover from. See, More, Here>>>
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