MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it hoped that U.S. President Donald Trump's Gaza peace plan was implemented and a Russian diplomat offered further support in a call with a senior official of the Palestinian Authority.
Trump secured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's backing on Monday for a U.S.-sponsored peace proposal to end the nearly two-year-old war in Gaza, but questions loomed over whether Hamas would accept the plan.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
Peskov said: "Russia always supports and welcomes any efforts by Trump aimed at ending the tragedy that is currently unfolding."
He added: "And, of course, we want this plan to be implemented and for it to help bring events in the Middle East to a peaceful conclusion."
Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin later told Palestinian Authority Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh by telephone that Russia supported "any steps that will facilitate an end to the bloodshed," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
"Hope was expressed that successful implementation of the new U.S. initiative will allow for a sustainable ceasefire in Gaza, the liberation of hostages and detainees and unhindered supplies of humanitarian aid into the area," the ministry said.
Moscow, it said, stood by a solution which provided for the "creation of an independent State of Palestine coexisting in peace and harmony with Israel."
Russia has been critical of Israel's military operations in Gaza over the last two years amid a deepening alignment between Moscow and Israel's archrival, Iran.
Moscow has long said that a two-state solution is the only way to settle the conflict in the Middle East.
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, Writing by Felix LightEditing by Ron Popeski, Andrew Osborn and Matthew Lewis)
