PYONGYANG, October 19. /TASS/. Russia counts on the continuation of consultations on the settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with some of them planned for the coming days, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

"My assumption is that consultations of the countries concerned will continue anyway. Egypt is showing initiative. We all want to see de-escalation in the Gaza Strip. We will make contact in the coming days to see how realistic our expectations are," he said at a press conference in Pyongyang.

The minister emphasized that the best option "would be a UN Security Council decision calling on all parties to stop any violent actions and ensure that humanitarian issues are addressed, taking into account the real catastrophe that threatens the Gaza Strip and the millions of people living there."

"But unfortunately, that resolution was not passed. Although I am not sure that if this resolution had passed, that everything would have happened this way, that a pause would have been declared, that humanitarian problems would have been solved. But there was no appeal either," Lavrov emphasized.