Head of Hamas Political Bureau Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied by a high-level Hamas delegation, met Monday evening with Sheikh Rushan Abbyasov, first deputy chair of the Russian Muftis Council, at the Moscow Cathedral Mosque in the Russian capital, Moscow. 

The delegation, in addition, met with Archpriest Sergey Zvonarev, secretary for the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow.  

During the meetings, the delegation pointed to the ongoing Israeli assaults and violations against Muslim and Christian holy sites across occupied Palestine, foremost among them are the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.   

The Hamas delegation thanked Russia’s Muslim community for their role in defending Muslim and Christian holy sites in Palestine, hailing the positive coexistence between all races within the country. 

Reaffirming the Russian Muslim community's support for the Palestinian cause, Sheikh Abbyasov stressed that Russian Muslims are closely following the situation in occupied Jerusalem. 

Archpriest Zvonarev, meanwhile, voiced rejection of the Israeli occupation’s schemes aimed at changing Jerusalem’s historical character.