France Denounces Ambush on Israel Border, Urges Restraint

France denounced a deadly strike on Israel Monday by militants who had sneaked across the Egyptian border and urged restraint by all parties to prevent a spike in tensions.

An Israeli civilian was killed in the ambush, which sparked a firefight that left at least two gunmen dead. It mirrored a strike in August 2011 in which gunmen from Sinai staged ambushes in southern Israel, killing eight.

"France is very concerned by the violence of these last few days in Gaza and southern Israel," foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said in a statement.

Paris "firmly condemns rocket strikes targeting Israeli territory as well as the terrorist attack which cost the life of an Israeli civilian," he said.

"It is vital that all parties observe the greatest restraint to avoid an escalation" in tensions, Valero added, calling for the "resumption of dialogue."

The militant strike came just 48 hours after a rocket fired from the Sinai landed near the Israeli desert town of Mitzpe Ramon and a second landed near Ovda, the site of a small airport used by civilian and military flights.

In early April, militants in Sinai fired a Grad rocket which exploded near Eilat, Israel's southernmost city, without causing casualties, with another unexploded rocket later found in the same area.