ISTANBUL

Russia on Tuesday warned of a potential “spiral of escalation” in Gaza amid renewed Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave that killed hundreds of Palestinians, including children and women.

The Israeli army pounded the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, killing more than 400 people and injuring over 560 others, despite a ceasefire agreement, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.

Images from Gaza showed that the majority of the victims were civilians, including women and children, whose homes were bombed during the night.

“The latest aggravation of the situation, the return to a spiral of escalating tensions, this is what worries us,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Peskov said Moscow is monitoring the situation very closely and expects it to return to a “peaceful course.”

More than 48,500 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 112,000 others injured in a brutal Israeli military campaign in Gaza since October 2023.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

Putin-Trump phone call

Commenting on the scheduled phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, Peskov described the upcoming conversation as a "mutual initiative."

The call is expected to be held at 4-6 pm Moscow time (1300-1500GMT), he said, adding that there is a "certain understanding" between the two sides, referring to the earlier Moscow-Washington talks.

"But there are also a large number of questions, both with the further normalization of our bilateral relations and with the Ukrainian settlement. All this will have to be discussed between the two presidents," Peskov further said, noting that Putin and Trump will talk "as much as they feel necessary."

Moscow has yet to choose in what form it will announce the results of the conversation, which will be "as quickly as possible," he added.

On Sunday, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he plans to speak with his Russian counterpart about the ongoing efforts to end the Moscow-Kyiv conflict, according to The New York Times.

Peskov, in remarks to reporters in Moscow on Monday, confirmed that such a conversation is planned for Tuesday.

The US, since Trump's inauguration in January, has been actively involved in diplomatic efforts to end the over three-year-long war, engaging in talks with both Ukraine and Russia.