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Middle East conflict

Moscow deeply concerned by escalation of Israeli-Gaza tensions

On Tuesday, Palestinian radicals launched rockets at southern Israeli districts, Israel responded with air strikes targeting Palestinian militants

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The recent outbreak of violence on the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip destroys even the slightest hope for Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation in the near future, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Moscow expresses its deep concern over this escalation of violence, which deserves condemnation," the ministry said, adding that those tensions "cross out even the slightest hope for a soonest reconciliation between the Israelis and the Palestinians."

The ministry said Israeli and Palestinian civilians are most affected by the situation.

"The perspective of establishing the Israeli-Palestinian negotiation process on the well-known international legal basis is becoming more and more distant," the statement reads. "We again call on the Israelis and the Palestinians to break this vicious circle of destructive confrontation."

On Tuesday, Palestinian radicals launched rockets at southern Israeli districts. The Israeli air forces responded with air strikes targeting Palestinian militants.

According to the Palestine Today radio, the latest Israeli strikes, delivered on Tuesday evening, came in response to continued shelling of Israel by Palestinian radical groups. According to Al Arabiya, a barrage of rockets was fired to southern Israel from the coastal enclave earlier in the day, some of them reached Ashkelon and Netivot.

According to Israeli sources, about 100 rockets were fired at the Jewish state on Tuesday, at least 35 of them were intercepted by the Israeli air defense systems.

In response, Israeli forces delivered strikes at 40 targets in the Gaza Strip.

Earlier on Tuesday, Arab TV channels reported that an Egypt-mediated ceasefire agreement had been reached. Al Arabiya said, citing representatives of the Islamic Jihad group, that the ceasefire in Gaza Strip was to come into force at midnight on Wednesday (Moscow time). However, Israeli sources denied entering any deal on ceasefire.

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