French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday urged the resumption of Middle East peace talks, while warning that continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank damaged chances of a final deal. 

"What's important is that negotiations restart," Fabius told reporters during a visit to Cairo, where he held what he said were intensive talks with Egyptian officials on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

A Palestinian opened fire on two Israeli men near a West Bank settlement on Friday, killing one and wounding the other, authorities said, in what appeared to be a lone-wolf attack.

Israeli army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lerner said a "Palestinian approached a vehicle that was in the area and asked them to stop... and shot the two from close range."

Tens of thousands of Muslim worshipers streamed through Jerusalem's Old City to one of Islam's most revered sites Friday as Israel eased restrictions for the fasting month of Ramadan.

Police said at least 80,000 people from east Jerusalem, Israel and the West Bank had gone to Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, for Friday prayers, the first since this week's start of Ramadan.

A Lebanese-Canadian will stand trial in Cyprus on terror charges after 8.2 tons of fertilizer that can be used for bomb making was allegedly found in his home, police said Friday.

Authorities believe the man, whose name is being withheld in conformity with the law, has links with the military wing of Hizbullah.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday denounced what he called the "hypocrisy" of the United Nations after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon demanded Israel protect the lives of children in Gaza.

"This is a black day for the U.N.," Netanyahu said. "Instead of pointing out the fact that Hamas made hostages of Gaza children when it fired from kindergartens... the U.N. chooses once again to preach at Israel."

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Thursday to protect the lives of Palestinian children, who have borne the brunt of its military operations in Gaza.

"Last year was one of the worst in recent memory for children in countries affected by conflict," the U.N. leader said, adding he is "deeply alarmed at the suffering of so many children as a result of Israeli military operations in Gaza last year."

A suspected arson attack overnight damaged a revered shrine in northern Israel where Christians believe Jesus performed a miracle, and police briefly detained 16 young Jewish settlers over the incident Thursday.

The Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, is where many Christians believe Jesus fed the 5,000 in the miracle of the five loaves and two fish.

A top U.S. official on Wednesday denounced "false" assertions by a former Israeli ambassador that the Obama administration has abandoned Israel, a traditional ally of the United States.

In an op-ed piece earlier this week, former Israeli envoy to the United States, Michael Oren, said President Barack Obama had dropped the core principles guiding Israeli-U.S. ties of "no daylight, no surprises."

A Uruguayan army bomb squad dismantled an "incomplete" explosive device Wednesday in front of an office tower housing the Israeli embassy, officials told AFP.

The device was contained in a sardine can and had a battery power source and cable but no explosive material, the military said.

Rebels surrounded a government-held Druze village on the Syrian side of the ceasefire line on the Golan Heights Wednesday after heavy fighting, a monitoring group said.

The advance came a day after Israel, with a significant Druze minority, said it was preparing for the possibility that people fleeing fighting might seek to cross to the Israeli-occupied side of the strategic plateau.