Russia s President Vladimir Putin. AFP
During a telephone call with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, "emphasis was placed on the sharply worsening situation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict zone", the Kremlin said in a statement.
"Deep concern was expressed about the continuing escalation of violence and the catastrophic increase in the number of civilian casualties," it added.
Putin and Erdogan had reiterated the need for "an immediate ceasefire" and for "the resumption of the negotiation process", according to the Kremlin.
The Turkish presidency also stated the two leaders had discussed "the alarming developments of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the measures to be taken in order to avoid an escalation".
Erdogan also said that it was "regretable to target civilian installations and that Turkey doesn't welcome such acts".
Since Hamas's attack on Israel on Saturday, the Israeli army has been shelling the Gaza Strip in retaliation.
Earlier on Tuesday, Putin called the creation of a Palestinian state "necessary" and suggested that the new war between Israel and Hamas demonstrated the "failure" of US policy in the Middle East.
Putin said the U.S. has failed “to take vital interests of the Palestinian people into account,” ignoring U.N. General Assembly resolutions envisaging the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Speaking at the start of his talks with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani, Putin said in his first comment on the war that “many will agree with me that this is a vivid example of the failure of the U.S. policies in the Middle East.”
He added that the U.S. has “tried to monopolize the settlement, but, regrettably hasn’t bothered to search for compromises that would be acceptable to both parties and, just the opposite, sought to enforce their own view of how it should be done, exerting pressure on both parties.”
He added that the U.S. has “tried to monopolize the settlement, but, regrettably hasn’t bothered to search for compromises that would be acceptable to both parties and, just the opposite, sought to enforce their own view of how it should be done, exerting pressure on both parties.”
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