Egypt has called on Israel and the Palestinians to exercise self-restraint in an effort to ease their tensions, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday.

Egypt is in touch with the Israelis in a bid to convince them to desist from complicating the situation in light of raging clashes between Israeli troops and some Palestinian factions, said the spokesman.

Egypt is also in contact with all Palestinian factions to get them to stick to a Cairo-brokered ceasefire and refrain from giving any chance to any party to drive a wedge among them or undermine the Palestinian National Authority, the spokesman said.

All parties should observe Sharm el-Sheikh understandings reached by Israel and the Palestinians in Febuary to ensure a smooth Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and implement the roadmap peace plan, he said.

The Israeli-Palestinian violence has flared up since a Palestinian suicide bomber killed five Israelis in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua