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Middle East Quartet calls for preventing tensions in Gaza Strip

On May 14, the opening ceremony of a new US embassy took place in Jerusalem following Trump's decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv

MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Representatives of the Middle East Quartet members (Russia, the US, the EU and the UN) have held a meeting on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, calling for efforts to prevent a new armed confrontation in the Gaza Strip, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

"Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin took part in the Middle East Quartet’s meeting dedicated to efforts aimed at facilitating negotiations between Israel and Palestine, as well as to the situation on the ground, particularly in the Gaza Strip," the statement reads.

"The meeting’s participants expressed deep concern about the growing tensions in the Gaza Strip and called for efforts to prevent a new armed confrontation," the Russian Foreign Ministry stressed.

On May 14, the opening ceremony of a new US embassy took place in Jerusalem following a decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv made by US President Donald Trump. The step triggered mass Palestinian protests on the Gaza Strip’s border. On May 14 alone, more than 60 Palestinians were killed in clashes with the Israeli military.

In the wake of Trump’s decision, the Palestine authorities said they no more viewed the United States as an honest and neutral broker in the conflict.