Amnesty International said Thursday Palestinian rocket fire during the 2014 summer war in Gaza had killed more civilians in the Gaza Strip than in Israel.

Such deadly attacks on civilians on both sides constituted "a war crime," it said.

Egypt's air force and Navy are participating in a Saudi-led intervention against Shiite Huthi rebels in Yemen, the presidency said in a statement on Thursday.

The government had previously said it would be prepared to commit ground troops as well if required.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government must take steps to freeze settlements that are threatening to "kill the very possibility of reaching peace," the U.N.'s Middle East envoy said Thursday.

In his final report to the Security Council as Middle East coordinator, Robert Serry said "I frankly do not know if it is already too late" to revive peace talks aimed at the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Iraq's Shiite militias have withdrawn from the forefront of an offensive to recapture Tikrit from Islamic State jihadists, allowing Baghdad government troops to take the lead, a top U.S. general said Thursday.

The Shiite militias "have pulled back from that area" and Iraqi special forces and police are clearing Tikrit, General Lloyd Austin, head of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers.

U.S. President Barack Obama will host Pope Francis at the White House on September 23, accepting an invitation extended during talks at the Vatican last year.

The White House said the president and the pope will continue a dialogue about poverty, the environment, immigration and promoting religious freedom.

Kuwait, a member of the coalition that has launched airstrikes on rebels in Yemen, said Thursday it has beefed up security at oil facilities as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Khaled al-Sabah, chaired a meeting of top officials to review the security plan to safeguard the Gulf state.

Hizbullah on Thursday called for an immediate end to what it described as the “Saudi-American aggression” against Yemen, a day before a scheduled speech by party chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

"Hizbullah strongly condemns the Saudi-American aggression that targets the brotherly people of Yemen, its national army and its vital institutions," a statement from the group said.

Lebanon on Thursday took an ambiguous stance that is in the vein of its famous “dissociation policy” towards regional conflicts, voicing support for any joint Arab action that “reassures everyone,” after Saudi warplanes bombed Shiite rebels in Yemen and sparked Iranian warnings.

“Any joint Arab action is lauded if it is based on standards that guarantee (the interests of) everyone, reassure everyone and involve everyone,” Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said, addressing a meeting for Arab FMs in Sharm el-Sheikh.

Israel's top Arab MP began a four-day walk to Jerusalem on Thursday in a show of support for the impoverished Bedouin community and to put a spotlight on the "human misery" they face.

Ayman Odeh, who was elected in last week's Israeli polls and heads the Arab parliamentary bloc, set off on a 100-kilometer (60-mile) walk from the southern Negev -- where he has long campaigned for the rights of Bedouin Arabs.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Thursday warned of regional risks from fighting in Yemen and said there could be no military solution, after Saudi warplanes bombed Shiite rebels and sparked Iranian warnings.

"The latest events in Yemen have dramatically worsened the already fragile situation in the country and risk having serious regional consequences," Mogherini, the former Italian foreign minister, said in a statement.