Israel on Wednesday called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take a tougher stand on those behind a bombing in Jerusalem that killed at least one woman and injured 30 other people.
The UN chief earlier condemned such attacks as "unacceptable," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
"The secretary-general is deeply concerned and calls for an immediate cessation of acts of terrorism and violence against civilians in order to prevent further escalation and loss of life," he said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
But the Israeli envoy to the United Nations, Meron Reuben, sent a letter to Ban and the UN Security Council suggesting that his condemnation of the bomb attack, the first in Jerusalem in six years, did not go far enough.
"In view of these troubling developments, Israel expects the Security Council, the secretary-general, and the international community to condemn all of these attacks in very clear terms," Reuben said in his letter.
Ban and the UN should "send a firm message to these terrorists and their patrons, which seek to escalate conflict," he added.
At least one person was killed and more than 30 were wounded when a bomb ripped through a Jerusalem bus Wednesday, just hours after militants vowed revenge for two deadly Israeli raids on Gaza.
Police and officials said the bomb had been hidden in a bag at a bus stop near Jerusalem's central bus station at the western entrance to the Holy City.
"The Security Council and the international community must also devote much more attention to preventing the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip," Reuben said, adding this issue "does not receive the appropriate attention that it deserves."
Israel not seeking 'confrontation' with Palestinians
Israel will not look to escalate conflict with the Palestinians following a deadly bus bomb attack in Jerusalem, Israel's US ambassador said Wednesday, arguing that there is "no cycle of violence."
The Israeli ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, dismissed the notion that Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip had directly provoked the attack, the first such bombing in more than six years.
"First of all we deeply regret the fact that any civilians get killed and we deeply regret the fact that Hamas shoots from civilian areas and endangers these people," Oren told MSNBC.
"But there is no cycle of violence here, we do not want to escalate, we are not seeking a confrontation with Hamas or the Palestinians generally."
Asked if Israel held the Palestinian Authority responsible, Oren suggested it had not done enough to condemn past attacks and replied: "We're holding the Palestinians responsible for the atmosphere that is conducive to violence."
