MOSCOW. Nov 19 (Interfax) - The Russian Foreign Ministry is seriously concerned about dangerous events around Gaza but says no Russian citizens have been hurt in the zone of confrontation.
"We consider it necessary to terminate the military confrontation immediately and to stop bombardments of the Israeli territory and disproportionate strikes on Gaza, which lead to civilian casualties. We once again insistently urge the sides to put an end to any armed actions, not to follow the path of escalation of violence and to resume lull," says a ministry commentary published on Friday in connection with the Gaza events.
"That is also required by the interests of stability and security in the Middle East and North Africa, which have lately become a scene of serious internal crises and conflicts," the ministry said.
It said that "violence around Gaza had been escalating in the past days." Tensions were particularly high on November 14 when an Israeli air strike killed Hamas military leader Ahmed Al-Jabari. After that had happened Palestinian gunmen fired about 400 projectiles and missiles from Gaza and some of them blasted even in the vicinity of Tel-Aviv. The Israeli Army struck on hundreds of targets on the perimeter and inside Gaza.
As of Friday night, more than 20 Palestinians have died and over 160 have been wounded. The Gaza infrastructure has been damaged greatly. In Israel four people died and no fewer than 50 were injured.