Worrying developments on the ground have increased tensions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict over the past month and it is essential that both sides refrain from provocative actions, the top United Nations officer said Wednesday.

"While the immediate crisis may have passed, we remain concerned about the broader situation in East Jerusalem and the potential for renewed tensions," UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told the Security Council, referring to incidents around the Harem al Sharif/Temple Mount site, sacred to both Jews and Muslims.

"Even with the full determination and support of the international community to achieve a two-State solution, the essential ingredient is political will from the parties to meet their obligations and negotiate an end to the conflict," he said in the regular monthly report on the conflict to the 15-member body.

Referring to a recent report of a UN mission that found evidence that both sides in the three-week war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009 committed serious war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law, Pascoe reiterated UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's call that all parties "carry out a credible investigation into the conduct of the conflict without delay."

(Xinhua News Agency October 15, 2009)