Israel and the Palestinians will resume high-level security talks later this evening despite a week of strikes and counter-strikes that have killed more than 60 people.
The meeting, which coincides with a new US diplomatic mission to salvage the peace "road map", was expected to focus on Israel's renewed offer to pull back from parts of the Gaza Strip in return for a Palestinian crackdown on militants.
Palestinian security chief Mr Mohammed Dahlan will meet senior Israeli military officials this evening night in the first such talks since US President George W. Bush launched the peace plan at a summit last week, sources on both sides said.
But there was little cause for optimism amid Palestinian militants' vows of revenge and Israel's pledge to wage war against them "to the bitter end".
The US called for restraint by Israel and an end to Palestinian attacks after the spiral of tit-for-tat violence heightened international concern that the 32-month-old conflict was spinning out of control.
Veteran US diplomat Mr John Wolf was due to arrive in Israel later today to hold separate talks in coming days with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
His original brief was to oversee implementation of reciprocal confidence-building steps mandated by the road map, which calls for creation of a Palestinian state by 2005.
Today Israeli forces tightened travel restrictions in the Gaza Strip and raided the Tulkarm refugee camp in the West Bank, where witnesses said troops wounded four Palestinians.
An Israeli military source said soldiers on a mission to capture a wanted militant fired at "suspicious figures" who refused orders to stop and at a man who threw a petrol bomb.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had proposed in earlier meetings with his Palestinian counterpart Mr Mahmoud Abbas a partial withdrawal from parts of northern Gaza as a proving ground for Palestinian security forces.
But Mr Abbas had rejected the offer, saying he first needed to work out a ceasefire deal with militant groups that have rejected the road map.