MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke over the phone with his Israeli and Palestinian counterparts, Eli Cohen and Riyad al-Maliki, to express concern over the new spiral of violence in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the Russian foreign ministry said on Sunday.

"The Russian side stressed that Moscow is concerned over the new spiral of violence in the zone of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which is fraught with the resumption of a full-scale armed confrontation leading to further casualties and damages," the ministry said.

The Russian top diplomat offered condolences over the civilian casualties in the recent escalation.