s violence continues to spiral amid escalations between Israeli and Palestinian factions based in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, the world's top powers have weighed in, urging for a return to calm, even as attacks continue.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, rooted in rival territorial aspirations asserted some 75 years ago, is undergoing one of its most destabilizing year-long spikes in violence in decades as Palestinians stage frequent attacks in Israel and occupied territories, Israeli authorities conduct raids on refugee camps, and Israeli settlers mount assaults against Palestinians laying claim to disputed land.
The situation worsened significantly, however, as Israeli security forces stormed the revered Al-Aqsa Mosque on Tuesday against what were alleged to be Palestinians armed with firecrackers and stones barricaded in the third-holiest site in Islam. The operation drew regional condemnation and resulted in an intensification of rocket fire from Gaza, as well as one of the largest barrages of rocket fire from Lebanon since the 2006 war between the two nations.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has blamed the Palestinian Hamas movement on both fronts and has conducted strikes against it in Gaza and Lebanon, drawing calls for action from the group directed toward Arab and Muslim nations. On Friday, another attack struck in the form of a shooting that the IDF said seriously injured an Israeli mother and killed her two daughters at the Hamra junction in the occupied West Bank.
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"IDF soldiers are blocking routes adjacent to the scene of the shooting attack, a pursuit after the terrorists has begun," the IDF said in a statement.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Tom Nides tweeted Friday that he was "horrified to see the deadly terror attack in the West Bank today" and that he was "praying for peace as we continue to observe the holidays."
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Later in the day, Hamas announced a call between its international relations chief, Musa Abu Marzouq, and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who serves as the Kremlin's special envoy for the Middle East, "to discuss the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip and Lebanon."
A Russian Foreign Ministry readout said that Marzouq "shared his assessments and thoughts in connection with the sharp aggravation of the situation in the realm of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict."
"The Russian side reaffirmed its principled position in favor of de-escalating tensions and ending violence,"
the readout said, "as well as establishing a negotiation process as soon as possible in the interests of a just settlement of the Palestinian problem in accordance with the well-known decisions of the U.N. and its Security Council."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also addressed the issue during a press conference that followed talks with his Turkish counterpart in Ankara.