Following a severe spike in tensions between the two sides in recent days, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday to “stop the cycle of bloodshed.”

Blinken emphasized “the importance of Israelis and Palestinians working to end the cycle of violence in Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza by exercising restraint and refraining from actions that escalate tensions” in separate calls with Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas and Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, according to the State Department.

He also asked all parties to display “control” and desist from “activities that aggravate tensions,” notably at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem’s Israeli-annexed Old City, which is Islam’s third holiest site but is known to Jews as the Temple Mount — Judaism’s holiest spot.