The flare-up in violence seemed likely to complicate Egyptian efforts to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas.
The wali, or governor, of South Darfur called a peace conference and urged neutral tribes to mediate a cease-fire.
Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, the American special envoy who tried unsuccessfully to mediate a cease-fire, asked for permission to see Mr. Arafat today.
Another front of the effort by the United States, the attempts by its envoy, Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, to mediate a cease-fire, also seemed stalled.
The effort to mediate a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is filled with potential pitfalls, Israeli, Egyptian and American officials said.
The attack in Kfar Saba, a town north of Tel Aviv, was part of a surge of violence today as Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, the American envoy, pressed ahead with efforts to mediate a cease-fire.
While administration officials still say they do not plan to deal directly with Hamas, the United States has given tacit support to an attempt by Egyptian officials to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, which controls Gaza.
Over the past 23 months, successive efforts by the United States, the European Union and the United Nations to mediate a cease-fire have been foiled, either by Palestinian suicide attacks or by the Israeli killings of Palestinian militants.
The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said he was prepared to fly to Africa within the week to mediate a cease-fire in the latest bout of war in eastern Congo.
