The Russian Foreign Ministry is concerned over the latest outbreak of violence between Palestinian militants and Israel, which left at least 16 Palestinians dead and more than 20 people injured on both sides.
“We call on all sides to show restraint and to do everything possible to restore calm and ensure proper conditions for resuming Palestinian-Israeli negotiations based on widely accepted international legal grounds,” the ministry said in a statement published on its website on Sunday.
At least 16 Palestinians, including leaders and activists of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), a coalition of militant groups operating in the Gaza Strip, and militants from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement, have been killed by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza since Friday. Some 20 Palestinians and several Israelis have been injured as the sides traded rocket fire over the weekend.
The violence began on Friday when Israeli airstrikes destroyed a car in Gaza City, killing two militant leaders, one of whom was accused by Israel of plotting a cross-border attack from Egypt.
Israeli-Palestinian tensions escalated as the Quartet of international mediators of the Arab-Israeli conflict is set to meet in New York on Monday for the first time since September 2011 to discuss how to resolve the long-standing confrontation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to attend the meeting along with other Quartet representatives from the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.
