Russia announced the willingness to organize direct Israeli & Palestine talks in an effort to de-escalate the situation in Gaza.
“We will help for direct negotiations which only through them we can agree on the creation of a Palestinian state that will live in peace and security, in accordance with the decisions of the UN Security Council, side by side with Israel and other countries in the region, in order for such negotiations to begin, it is necessary to stop violence on all sides,” Lavrov said and also added:
“We condemn attacks from both sides, targeting residential areas. Strikes against civilian targets are unacceptable. We believe that the international community must not be indifferent to what is happening. There is the quartet on the Middle East of international mediators who are directly obliged to contribute to the solution of the Palestinian question”
Lavrov stated that UN Security Council “sent all necessary signals and now everything depends on the parties’ ability to negotiate and their goodwill.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has also urged for an international effort to defuse the conflict, calling for a gathering between Russia, the US, the UN and the EU. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin also pressed Israel to “immediately” stop all settlement activities in the Palestinian territories.