Russia said today that it is in contact with Israel and the Palestinians and will seek to play a role in resolving the conflict between them.

Four days into the crisis that began with a deadly Hamas attack on Israel, the Kremlin has not presented any concrete initiatives, but has underlined the strength of its relations with both sides.

Moscow has long-standing historical ties with the Palestinians, but also “a lot in common” with Israel, including the fact that many Israelis are former Russian citizens, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

“Therefore, we maintain relations with both sides of this conflict. We conduct contacts and participate in all the — unfortunately few — schemes that are looking for common ground for a settlement and that are not working very effectively, as recent practice has shown,” he said.

“But nevertheless we intend to continue to make efforts and play our part in helping to find ways to a settlement.”

Israel pounded Gaza today with the heaviest airstrikes in the 75-year history of its conflict with the Palestinians, responding to a wave of deadly attacks by Hamas over the weekend. Moscow has said it is concerned the violence could escalate into a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Peskov said the Kremlin is trying to ascertain whether Russians are among the hostages taken by Hamas.

“The necessary contacts are being made in order to understand whether this is true or not and what will be the fate of these people,” he said.

Peskov said that the hint of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that it was in Russia’s interest to fuel the war in the Middle East so that world unity would be weakened has “no basis whatsoever“.

“It’s a long-standing conflict, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, which has very deep roots, many deep contradictions. A lot of people know the history, but it’s so deep that not everyone knows the subtle differences,” he said.