Russia condemns Gaza violence

Russia has condemned the latest violence in the Gaza strip. "Further escalation of violence would be impermissible," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters Thursday, adding military actions from both sides were absolutely unacceptable. "Bombardment of southern Israel, as well as the disproportionate strikes in the Gaza Strip are totally unacceptable, especially when there are civilian casualties on both sides," the diplomat added. "Moscow is deeply concerned with what is going on in the Gaza Strip and calls for the bloodshed to end," Lukashevich said. Also Thursday, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin was following the Gaza situation and was worried about the turmoil there. "President Putin receives online information from all our relevant services in charge of these and, of course, he is concerned with it," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The violence flared after the Israeli army announced Wednesday the start of a large-scale military operation in Gaza, dubbed "Operation Pillar of Defense" and following the death of Ahmed al-Jaabari, the head of Hamas' military wing, on Wednesday afternoon in an Israeli air raid. On Thursday, Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip continued, while Palestinian militant groups responded with barrages of rockets targeting southern Israel communities, where Israeli media reported a number of casualties in the morning.