The United States has reiterated its condemnation of the Israeli army's "targeted killings" of Palestinians, saying they aggravated the already tense situation and undermined peace efforts.
"[Targetted killings] undermine the efforts to achieve peace, they aggravate the situation in the region and they do not contribute to progress on Palestinian civil and security reform, all goals that we are trying to achieve," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.
In the Gaza Strip earlier today, an explosives-laden car driven by a Palestinian suicide bomber exploded near an Israeli tank in the vicinity of the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom, according to the Israeli army.
Also today, Ayad el-Beik, a member of the armed wing of the radical Islamic movement Hamas, was killed in an Israeli army helicopter rocket attack on his car in Gaza City, drawing calls for revenge from Hamas.
And a young Palestinian man was killed this evening by Israeli gunfire in the southern Gaza city of Rafah in circumstances that were not immediately clear.
The deaths brought to 3,219 the number of people killed since the Palestinian uprising broke out in September 2000, including 2,429 Palestinians and 730 Israelis.
"We've also made clear that Israel does have a right to self defence," said Boucher. "There can be no excuse for the violence and the terrorism directed against the Israeli people."
But he added: "We urge the Israeli government to take all appropriate precautions to prevent death or injury of innocent civilians and damage to civilian infrastructure, to consider the consequences of their actions."
The US Secretary of State Colin Powell is preparing to leave for the Middle East on Saturday on a two-day trip that was to include meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
AFP