US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed his sadness in Ramallah on Tuesday over the deaths of “innocent” Palestinians in the violence of recent months, lamenting the “shrinking horizon of hope” for Palestinians, AFP reported.

On the third and final day of his Middle East tour, the secretary of state repeated his calls for de-escalation after last week’s Israeli-Palestinian violence sparked fears of further escalation.

“All sides must take steps to prevent further escalation of violence and restore calm,” he told a news conference in Jerusalem at the end of his evening visit.

Earlier in the day, Blinken expressed his “sadness at the deaths of innocent Palestinian civilians” after meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.

“What we’re seeing now from the Palestinian side is a shrinking horizon of hope, not an expanding horizon, and we think that needs to change as well,” he added.

Warning against any action that undermines the Israeli-Palestinian two-state solution, Blinken referred to “expansion of (Israeli) settlements, legalization of unauthorized settlements (unauthorized by the Israeli government), demolitions and evictions.”

About 475,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlements – illegal under international law – in the West Bank, home to about 2.9 million Palestinians.

Abbas held the Israeli government “responsible for what is happening today because of its practices that undermine the two-state solution and violate the agreements signed,” while peace talks to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have been suspended since 2014.