Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Thursday by telephone to King Abdullah II, the premier's office said, apparently their first contact since Jordan announced its ambassador was returning to Tel Aviv.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu extended his condolences to the King and to the Jordanian people" over the murder of a Jordanian air force pilot by the Islamic State group, a statement said.

Israel's hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman showcased copies of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo in Tel Aviv on Thursday in an apparent pre-election publicity stunt.

Members of Lieberman's far-right Yisrael Beitenu party, their mouths symbolically taped shut, set up a stall in the heart of Israel's commercial capital and displayed copies for public perusal of the French satirical magazine, an AFP correspondent said.

The border area facing the southern town of Kfarkila witnessed “unusual” Israeli military activity on Thursday, which was monitored by the Lebanese army and U.N. peacekeepers.

“The area opposite Kfarkila witnessed unusual Israeli military activity this afternoon,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported.

Speaker Nabih Berri has said that the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal is putting a foundation for future plans, stressing that the two parties hold onto U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.

The dialogue, which is being held under his sponsorship in Ain el-Tineh, is based on “honesty,” Berri told al-Mustaqbal newspaper in an interview published on Thursday.

The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday condemned "in the strongest terms" last week's killing of a Spanish peacekeeper in southern Lebanon and decided to set up a board of inquiry to investigate his death, a senior U.N. official said.

Wednesday's statement comes a week after Cpl. Francisco Javier Soria Toledo was killed during the Israeli military's exchange of fire with Hizbullah in a disputed border area.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat expressed distress over the ongoing presidential stalemate as the Lebanese no longer sense the vacuum at the state's higher post due to the rift between the rival Christians.

He pointed out in an interview with al-Akhbar newspaper published on Wednesday that the Lebanese are more concerned with the daily crises.

Speaker Nabih Berri has stressed that the road to the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal is “safe” despite concerns following Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's latest speech.

Berri told his visitors on Tuesday that the dialogue has not stopped and will go ahead in implementing the decisions reached between the two parties.

A 14-year-old schoolgirl jailed for trying to attack Israeli soldiers has become a symbol of Palestinian anger over the arrests of children in the occupied territories.

The two-month sentence for Malak al-Khatib, who was accused of stone-throwing and possession of a knife, has unleashed a wave of solidarity and support among Palestinians.

Israel called Tuesday for the shelving of a U.N. inquiry into its war last summer in the Gaza Strip after the probe's head quit over Israeli accusations of conflict of interest.

Canadian international law expert William Schabas resigned Monday after Israel complained that he had prepared a legal opinion for the Palestine Liberation Organization in October 2012, the United Nations said.

Hizbullah's ambitions are spreading far beyond its Lebanon home as the Shiite movement appears increasingly bent on taking on Sunni foes across the Middle East. It has sent thousands of its fighters into Syria and senior military advisers to Iraq, helped Shiite rebels rise to power in Yemen and threatened Bahrain over its abuse of the Shiite majority.

But the regional aspirations also are taking a heavy toll and threatening to undermine Hizbullah's support at home. The group has suffered significant casualties, there is talk of becoming overstretched, and judging by the events of recent days, even a vague sense that the appetite for fighting the Israelis is waning.