The United States has scolded Israel for its practice of demolishing Palestinian homes and civilian buildings, often killing and injuring innocent people in the process.
While reiterating Israel's right to defend itself from terrorism, the State Department said it was troubled by some of the actions of the Israeli army, particularly during its latest raid into Gaza in which eight people - including a nine-month pregnant woman and a 13-year-old boy - were killed.
"We continue to be seriously concerned about civilian casualties and we have urged the Israeli government to take all appropriate precautions to prevent the death and injury of innocent civilians and damage to civilian and humanitarian infrastructure," spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said.
"We are also deeply concerned at the increasing Israeli use over the past few months of demolitions and the civilian deaths that have resulted from this practice," he said.
"The demolition of civilian structures deprives Palestinians of shelter and the ability to peacefully earn a livelihood, exacerbates the humanitarian situation inside the Palestinian areas and makes more difficult the critical challenge of bringing an end to violence and a restoration of calm," he said.
Since June 2002, the Israeli army has destroyed more than 150 houses belonging to Palestinians allegedly involved in attacks, a policy human rights groups describe as collective punishment and which has drawn US criticism in the past.
Mr Boucher said US officials were in touch with both Israelis and Palestinians to urge them to calm the situation, which flared anew on Monday when Israeli tanks stormed the Gaza Strip for the second day in a row.
In addition to the eight killed, 35 others were wounded in the raid.