Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked France Friday to maintain tight security on Jewish sites after a series of incidents that included hostages being killed at a kosher store in Paris.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu asked the president of France to keep up the increased security on Jewish institutions even after things return to normal," Israeli government sources told AFP following a telephone conversation between Netanyahu and Francois Hollande.

Israel expressed concern Friday over a "terror offensive" in France, where a gunman stormed a Paris kosher supermarket after the Charlie Hebdo magazine massacre and the killing of a policewoman.

"Israel is following the situation in Paris with concern," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in statement.

A rights group on Thursday urged Israel to lift restrictions which it said deprive Palestinians of sufficient medical care, slamming high infant mortality rates and poor access to treatment.

Physicians for Human Rights released its 47-page report, entitled Divide and Conquer, just days after Israel froze tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority in a move condemned by the United States and European Union.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Java Zarif lauded on Thursday the dialogue between Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal Movement and the efforts exerted to reduce the sectarian tension in Lebanon.

Zarif expressed hope that the talks between the Sunni and Shiite parties would be “fruitful,” noting that his country supports dialogue and openness between the Lebanese, in particular Hizbullah and al-Mustaqbal.

Living by candlelight with no electricity and reliant on sandbags to stop their ruined homes flooding, Gazans who survived last year's war are now struggling with a brutal winter storm.

As millions across Israel and the Palestinian territories hunkered down for the worst storm of the winter, freezing rain and gale-force winds battered the Gaza Strip where more than 100,000 homes were destroyed or damaged during the 50-day conflict. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for global unity to fight the "scourge" of radical Islam, after an  attack on a satirical French newspaper killed 12 people on Wednesday.

Speaking at a crisis center in Jerusalem set up to deal with severe winter storms battering the Middle East, he expressed Israel's condolences for the "brutal act in the heart of Paris today."

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has accepted the request by Palestine to join the International Criminal Court, a move that would open the way for war crimes complaints against Israel.

The decision grants the Hague-based ICC jurisdiction to open cases starting April 1 on serious crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, despite fierce opposition from Israel and the United States.

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem has indefinitely postponed a planned trip to Israel, a spokesman said Wednesday, in an apparent cooling of relations between the two countries since Sweden recognized Palestine.

"The foreign minister has decided to postpone her visit to Israel and Palestine. Instead of next week it will take place later. No date is yet decided," Margot Wallstroem's spokesman Erik Boman told Agence France Presse.

The EU criticized Tuesday Israel's decision to freeze Palestinian Authority tax revenues in retaliation for joining the International Criminal Court and called on both sides to avoid steps that could undermine peace efforts.

The tax freeze "runs counter to Israel's obligations," agreed in 1994 following the Oslo peace accords, European Union foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said.

An Israeli military court on Tuesday handed three life sentences to a Palestinian militant convicted of organizing the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers.

Hossam Qawasme was also ordered to pay 250,000 shekels ($63,000/53,000 euros) in compensation to each of the three families at a hearing at Ofer military court near the West Bank city of Ramallah.