The Israeli foreign ministry on Monday summoned Sweden's ambassador to protest over Stockholm's declared intention to recognize a Palestinian state.

Ambassador Carl Magnus Nesser was called in by the ministry's deputy director general for Europe, Aviv Shir-On, who "protested and expressed Israel's disappointment" after Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Loefven announced his intention to recognize a Palestinian state, the ministry said.

The United States said Friday it would be "premature" to recognize a new Palestinian state, after Sweden said it was planning to as part of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"We believe international recognition of a Palestinian state is premature," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters when asked about Sweden's decision.

Sweden's new prime minister Stefan Loefven said Friday the Nordic country would recognize a Palestinian state, underlining his support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

"A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and the will to co-exist peacefully," Loefven said in his inaugural address to parliament. 

Israel was in security lockdown Friday for the Jewish fast of Yom Kippur, which is coinciding with the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha for the first time in three decades.

The Israeli army said it had sealed off the occupied West Bank from Thursday night to Saturday night for the solemn holiday.

The Palestinian government on Thursday in a reconstruction plan for Gaza ahead of an October 12 donor conference called for $4 billion to rebuild the war-battered territory.

Gaza's infrastructure was devastated during a 50-day Israeli military operation which killed nearly 2,200 Palestinians, while attacks by Gaza militants killed 73 on the Israeli side.

Israel is tightening security in flashpoint mixed Jewish-Muslim areas to ward off possible unrest this weekend when two important religious festivals coincide for the first time in three decades.

The Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur begins on Friday evening, followed on Saturday by Muslim Eid al-Adha, against a backdrop of high inter-religious tension over the seven-week Gaza war.

Most Palestinians would favor resuming rocket fire at Israel if it does not lift its Gaza blockade, although support for armed confrontation is dropping off, according to a poll published Monday.

"An overwhelming majority of 80% supports the launching of rockets from the Gaza Strip at Israel if the siege and blockade are not ended," said the survey of 1,200 Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR).

The Middle East Quartet of peacemakers on Wednesday joined calls for a quick start to the rebuilding of war-ravaged Gaza before the current truce with Israel ends in renewed violence.

"The precarious situation in Gaza and southern Israel, the danger that violence could flare up again at any point, are precisely the reason to move as quickly as possible on the short-term and long-term recovery efforts," Quartet envoy Tony Blair wrote in remarks published by his office ahead of a meeting on international aid to the Palestinians.

The United Nations has brokered an Israeli-Palestinian deal on imports of construction materials to Gaza to ensure they will not be diverted by Hamas militants, an envoy said Tuesday.

The agreement on monitoring the supply of materials "must get up and running without delay," said Robert Serry, the U.N. envoy for the Middle East.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called for an increase in defense spending, after a bloody and costly war in Gaza.

"There is no leader who, faced with the threats that are multiplying around us, would not allow or demand a significant increase in the defense budget, to counter security challenges," he said in a statement.