STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom called on Tuesday for an investigation to determine whether Israel was guilty of extrajudicial killings of Palestinians during recent violence there, local media reported.

Sweden's Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallstrom listens during a news conference in Riga January 23, 2015. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

The comments were the latest in a series of statements by Wallstrom that have irked Israeli authorities. Ties between Sweden and Israel nose-dived when Sweden recognised the Palestinian state shortly after Wallstrom’s centre-left Social Democrats won a parliamentary election in 2014.

The rift then deepened further when she described the Palestinians’ plight as a factor leading to Islamist radicalisation.

“It is vital that there is a thorough, credible investigation into these deaths in order to clarify and bring about possible accountability,” Wallstrom said during a parliamentary debate, according to news agency TT.

In response, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “The Swedish Foreign Minister has, in her reckless and ludicrous comments, buoyed terrorism and by so doing is encouraging violence.”

Rights groups have accused Israel of using excessive force to quell the unrest.

The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have all expressed concern, saying that while they recognise Israel’s right to self-defence, restraint is necessary to ensure the violence does not escalate further.

Since Oct. 1, Palestinian stabbings, car-rammings and shooting attacks have killed 24 Israelis and a U.S. citizen. The wave of bloodshed has raised fears of wider confrontation, a decade after the last Palestinian uprising subsided.

During the period, Israeli forces or armed civilians have killed at least 142 Palestinians, 90 of whom the authorities have described as assailants. Most others have been killed in clashes with security forces.

The surge in violence has been fuelled by the 2014 collapse of U.S.-sponsored peace talks, the growth of Jewish settlements on land Palestinians want for a state and Islamist calls for the destruction of Israel.

Also stoking the violence has been Muslim opposition to increased Israeli visits to Jerusalem’s al Aqsa mosque complex, which is the third holiest site in Islam and is also revered in Judaism as the location of two biblical temples.