Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer has warned the situation could deteriorate in the Middle East after an escalation of violence in the Palestinian territories and a new flare-up on the Lebanese front.
"The situation is not going to get easier, rather more difficult - perhaps even an all-out regional deterioration," Mr Ben Eliezer was quoted as saying by the Maarivnewspaper.
But Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said he did not believe there was a risk of a wider conflict.
"I don't think there is a risk of a conflict such as those that pitted the Arab nations against Israel in June 1967 or October 1973," Mr Peres told public radio.
"All those wars took place during the Cold War period when the Soviet Union was supplying Arab nations with weapons and funds which is not the case now," said the Nobel peace prize laureate.
AFP