The European Union has appealed for both Israel and the Palestinians to show "maximum restraint", as Palestinians prepared to demonstrate at the end of a week of clashes.
"The European Union calls on both parties to act with maximum restraint, restore calm and do their utmost to prevent actions resulting in new victims," said the statement released by Sweden, which currently holds the six-month rotating EU presidency.
"Furthermore, it calls upon both parties to refrain from any unilateral action that may generate more violence and aggravate the crisis."
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An Israeli police officer at scene of bomb explosion this week.
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The statement came as Israel braced for further Palestinian demonstrations to mark Land Day, which recalls the March 30th, 1976 death of six Israeli Arabs, killed in northern Israel during protests over the seizure of Arab lands.
The last few days have seen the shooting dead Monday of a 10-month-old Israeli baby girl, shot by a sniper in the divided West Bank city of Hebron.
Yesterday Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian teenagers as fierce clashes erupted in the Gaza Strip a day after Israeli helicopter gunships blasted bases of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Force 17.
"There is no military solution to the ongoing conflict. Only a resumed peace process can create the conditions for an improved security situation as a step towards normalisation," the EU statement added.
"The European Union deplores the recent increase of violence in the region and the daily loss of life among both Palestinians and Israelis."
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat vowed yesterday that the six-month-old intifada, or uprising, against Israel would continue until there was a Palestinian state.
Israel has threatened to ratchet up its military response to Palestinian violence. Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon was quoted yesterday as saying that "the days of restraint are over."
AFP