French President Emmanuel Macron denounced on Thursday the "headlong rush" of Iran's nuclear program after talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was in Paris to seek a stronger European stance against Tehran.

In a statement released after a dinner meeting in the Elysee Palace, Macron warned that Tehran continuing with the atomic project "would inevitably have consequences".

President Joe Biden on Thursday underlined his support for the legal "status quo" of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound in a meeting at the White House with Jordanian King Abdullah II.

Biden, the king and Crown Prince Hussein had a private lunch in which the U.S. president "reaffirmed the close, enduring nature of the friendship between the United States and Jordan," the White House said. They also both spoke with Iraq's prime minister by phone.

Syria on Thursday dismissed the global chemical weapons watchdog's statement that investigators found "reasonable grounds to believe" the air force dropped two cylinders of chlorine gas on the city of Douma in 2018.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons produced a detailed report following a fact finding mission that investigated the April 7, 2018 attack. Medical workers and activists said at the time more than 40 people were killed in the attack. OPCW inspectors headed to the site of the attack days later.

Israeli police on Thursday arrested an American tourist after he allegedly knocked down and broke a statue of Jesus in a church in Jerusalem's Old City.

Images on social media showed the statue laying horizontally on the floor after apparently being pulled down from a stand at the church. The incident occurred in the Church of the Flagellation, which is located on the Via Dolorosa, the route believed to have been walked by Jesus to his crucifixion.

French naval forces in January seized thousands of assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles in the Gulf of Oman coming from Iran and heading to Yemen's Houthi rebels, officials said Thursday.

While Iran denied being involved, images of the weapons released by the U.S. military's Central Command showed them to be similar to others captured by American forces in other shipments tied to Tehran.

Israel's West Bank settler population now makes up more than half a million people, a pro-settler group said Thursday, crossing a major threshold. Settler leaders predicted even faster population growth under Israel's new ultranationalist government.

The report, by WestBankJewishPopulationStats.com and based on official figures, showed the settler population grew to 502,991 as of Jan. 1, rising more than 2.5% in 12 months and nearly 16% over the last five years.

Israel's attorney general has told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he must not be involved in an overhaul to the country's judicial system proposed by his government, saying in a letter made public Thursday that he risks a conflict of interest in his ongoing corruption trial.

Netanyahu's new far-right government has made changing the legal system a centerpiece of its legislative agenda and despite mounting public criticism, has charged ahead with steps to weaken the Supreme Court and grant politicians less judicial oversight in their policymaking.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron Thursday, hoping to gain support against Iran's nuclear program but shadowed by an upsurge of violence in the region.

Israel's Paris embassy said the pair would discuss "the international effort to stop the Iranian nuclear program".

Iran's envoy to the United Nations said arch-enemy Israel was "responsible" for a drone attack on a defence ministry site in central Isfahan province, Iranian media reported on Thursday.

"Preliminary investigations show the Zionist regime (Israel) is responsible for the terrorist attack on the defence ministry workshop complex," ISNA news agency quoted Amir Saeid Iravani as saying in a letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres.

Israeli warplanes struck Gaza early Thursday, drawing retaliatory rocket fire from Palestinian militants, as violence flared despite US calls for "urgent steps" to restore calm.

Israel said the pre-dawn strikes were in response to an earlier rocket launch and targeted military training camps used by Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas.