MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. Direct talks between Israel and Palestine are impossible as long as military activities continue to rage on, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi said in an interview with the RBC TV channel on Thursday.

"I believe that it is impossible as long as military activities continue," he said in response to a question. "First, there is a need to resolve a simple issue and make sure that it never occurs again to Hamas to fire rockets into Israel. The second issue is to decide with whom to hold talks and then decide on a venue and a mediator, and whether Beijing, Moscow or Washington will be the host or whether we will make do without any mediators, which could be a good thing," the envoy pointed out.

Ben Zvi added that his meeting with Palestinian Ambassador to Moscow Abdel Hafiz Noval would have no practical meaning.

The exchange of rocket fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip, which has been going on since May 10, was triggered by riots at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police erupted after an Israeli court had ruled to evict several Palestinian families from the city’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and hand the property over to Jewish settlers. According to latest data, 230 Palestinians and at least 12 Israelis have been killed.