Putin calls blast at Gaza hospital a catastrophe, calls for negotiations

BEIJING (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that a blast at a hospital in Gaza that killed hundreds of Palestinians was a terrible catastrophe that showed the conflict should be ended through negotiations.

Palestinian officials blamed an Israeli air strike for the blast at the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, which it said had killed as many as 500 people. Israel said the blast was caused by a failed rocket launch by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group, which denied blame.

"As for the strike on the hospital, the tragedy that happened there is a terrible event," Putin said after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. "Hundreds of dead and hundreds of wounded are of course a catastrophe."

"I really hope this will be a signal that we need to end this conflict as soon as possible. In any case, we need to focus on the possibility of starting some contacts and negotiations."

Russia, which has relationships with Iran, Hamas, major Arab powers as well as with the Palestinians and with Israel, has repeatedly said the United States and the West have ignored the need for an independent Palestinian state within 1967 borders.

Putin on Monday spoke to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In those talks, Putin said he had formed the impression that no major players wanted the conflict to escalate.

"I have the impression that no one wants this to continue, for the conflict to develop and for the situation to worsen further," Putin said.

"In my opinion, the main players - some, by definition do not want to, some are afraid of something - but I have the impression that there are practically no players ready to develop the conflict and turn it into a large-scale war."

Putin also said he had discussed the situation with Xi.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Vladimir Soldatkin and Darya Korsunskaya; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Nick Macfie)