The United Nations' Middle East envoy said today a nearly three-week-old Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire seemed unlikely to hold and appealed for restraint from both sides.
"The situation is very difficult. The last events of the last couple of days show how fragile the ceasefire is. All indications are now it will not hold, the envoy," Mr Terje Roed-Larsen, said after talks with Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat in Gaza.
"We have very few days again, I think, if these incidents continue to happen. It will mean that the ceasefire will not hold and we will face a new crisis. That's why it is now incredibly important for all parties concerned to hold back."
Despite a ceasefire which took effect on June 13, two car bombs exploded near Tel Aviv's airport today injuring four people, hours after an Israeli helicopter gunship attack killed three Palestinian militants in the West Bank late yesterday.
One of the men killed was identified by Israel and the Palestinians as Mr Mohammed Besharat, who was on Israel's most-wanted list.
Israeli security sources said he belonged to the Hamas movement and was planning an attack inside Israel. Palestinian officials said he was a member of the Islamic Jihad group, which vowed revenge. Both groups have carried out bombings in Israel.
Earlier today Palestinian Authority accused Israel of violating a ceasefire.
Repeating a call for an international observer force, Gen Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, general-secretary of the Palestinian cabinet, said yesterday’s helicopter attack was a blow to world efforts to restore calm and end nine months of bloodshed.
He called on the US and Europe to condemn Israel's crime, its assassination of Palestinian citizens, and to hold the Israeli government responsible for the serious violation.
The violence sets back attempts to start a seven-day test period of calm brokered during a Middle East visit last week by US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell as a starting point for a US truce-to-peacemaking plan after nine months of bloodshed.