RAMALLAH (AFP) - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza, blasted its plans for demolishing houses in east Jerusalem and vowed to work towards a Palestinian state as she met with President Mahmud Abbas on Wednesday. "The United States aims to foster conditions in which a Palestinian state can be fully realised," she said after talks with Abbas in the occupied West Bank on the second day of a maiden trip to the region. "Time is of the essence," she said. She also urged Israel to allow more humanitarian supplies into the war-shattered Gaza Strip. "We have obviously expressed concerns about the border crossings. We want humanitarian aid to get into Gaza in sufficient amounts to alleviate the suffering of the people in Gaza," she said. Abbas, speaking to reporters at the same Press conference, made a similar call, and urged Israel to halt settlement activity and housing demolitions in Jerusalem and the West Bank. "The incoming Israeli government ... (must) respect the roadmap and two-state solution and should stop all settlement activity and reopen the border crossings" into Gaza, Abbas said. Both criticised the Israeli-run Jerusalem municipality's decision to destroy dozens of homes built without permits in mostly Arab east Jerusalem, which the Palestinians have demanded as their future capital. "Clearly this kind of activity is unhelpful and not in keeping with the obligations entered into under the roadmap," Hillary said, referring to a blueprint for peace talks adopted by the international community in 2003. "It is an issue that we intend to raise with the government in Israel and the government at the municipal level in Jerusalem because it is clearly a matter of deep concern," she added. Abbas also spoke out against the demolitions, saying, "the message to us is very clear - whoever takes these sorts of measures does not want peace." The US Secretary of State had earlier held talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and visited a school in the West Bank political capital of Ramallah a day after meeting with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem. On her first visit to the region since her appointment by US President Barack Obama, Hillary announced she was sending two envoys to Syria and vowed to pursue regional peace efforts while stressing that Israel could count on continued support from its staunchest ally. Early on Wednesday, Israeli warplanes launched two new raids on alleged smuggling tunnels linking Gaza to Egypt without causing casualties.