Egypt on Wednesday hailed a "new era" in Arab solidarity after Gulf states agreed to welcome Qatar back to the fold following a row over its support for Islamists.

Cairo said it offered its full support to the reconciliation move, which it described as a "huge step towards Arab solidarity."

France will deploy six Mirage fighter jets to Jordan as it steps up attacks against the Islamic State group in Iraq, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Wednesday.

"French air forces will be reinforced with six Mirages to be stationed in Jordan," Le Drian told parliament.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said Wednesday that "close to 50" French citizens have been killed fighting alongside jihadists in Syria.

A government source told AFP the precise number, as of Monday, was estimated at 49.

Shortly before dawn Wednesday, a powerful explosion ripped out the walls of the home of Abdelrahman Shaludi, a 21-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem who rammed his car into Israeli pedestrians.

In demolishing the home of the Palestinian behind last month's attack, which killed a baby and a woman before police shot and fatally wounded him, Israel renewed a controversial policy aimed at deterrence but one which is likely to further inflame tensions.

The United Nations said pro-government forces and Islamist militias fighting for control of Libya's second city Benghazi agreed to a 12-hour humanitarian truce on Wednesday.

The U.N.-brokered ceasefire was the first in Benghazi since the launch of a government-backed offensive to recapture the eastern city from Islamists a month ago.

Jordan called Wednesday for "restraint and calm" after two Palestinians killed five Israelis at a Jerusalem synagogue in the city's bloodiest attack in six years.

As custodian of the holy places in annexed Arab east Jerusalem, Jordan also urged a halt to Israeli actions at the city's flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound that have helped fuel months of Palestinian unrest.

Pope Francis on Wednesday slammed the deadly attack on a Jerusalem synagogue and urged Israelis and Palestinians to take the "courageous decisions" needed to achieve reconciliation.

Against a backdrop of fears the conflict could be entering a new phase of sectarian violence and Israel's warning of a tough response to the killings, the Argentinian pontiff appealed for restraint and dialogue.

Saudi King Abdullah urged Egypt on Wednesday to support Qatar's return to the Arab fold, days after Gulf states resolved a diplomatic spat over Doha's alleged support for the Muslim Brotherhood.

"I urge Egypt, the people and leadership, to seek with us the success of this (reconciliation) move as part of Arab solidarity," the king said, quoted by the official SPA news agency.

Israel denounced as unhelpful on Wednesday a vote by the Spanish parliament, hours after a deadly Jerusalem synagogue attack, calling on Madrid to recognise a Palestinian state.

In a highly symbolic move, Spanish MPs adopted almost unanimously a motion urging the conservative government to recognise Palestine in coordination with any similar move by the European Union. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday expressed frustration that the U.S. and its allies were not responding to conditions set for his country to play a greater role in the coalition against militants in Syria.

His complaint came as a U.S. special presidential envoy, John Allen, visited Ankara for previously unannounced talks with Turkish officials.