Israel's participation in Egyptian-brokered talks on consolidating a Gaza ceasefire is aimed at bolstering its security not a peace deal with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in remarks published Wednesday.

"These are negotiations on security issues, not peace negotiations," Netanyahu told pro-government freesheet Israel Hayom.

Talks in Cairo between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah on reviving their unity government were taking place in a "positive atmosphere" on Wednesday, officials said.

The two-day talks, which began early Wednesday, come after a joint Palestinian delegation and Israel agreed to hold separate indirect talks in late October to thrash out a lasting truce in Gaza.

Clashes broke out at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Wednesday as Palestinians protested against Jews visiting the flashpoint holy site on the eve of Jewish New Year, police said.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP that Palestinian youths had thrown stones and petrol bombs at police, injuring several, who had "pushed the rioters inside the Al-Aqsa mosque."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Tuesday to discuss the situation in Gaza, a state department official said.

The meeting in New York came as leaders converged for the United Nations General Assembly, and a day after Abbas gave a speech at Cooper Union vowing to present a new timetable for peace talks with Israel. 

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas was to meet Arab diplomats in New York Tuesday ahead of a fresh bid at the United Nations to create a new "political reality," his spokesman said.

"This visit is going to be a very important one, a crossroads," Nabil Abu Rudeina told Voice of Palestine radio.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators in Cairo on Tuesday agreed to schedule new talks on a durable Gaza ceasefire for the last week of October, a Hamas official said.

A delay in the talks after their first Egypt-mediated negotiations since the end last month of a devastating 50-day war in Gaza had been expected, because of upcoming Jewish and Muslim holidays.

Israeli forces crossed on Tuesday the demarcation line at Lebanon's Ross Mountain at the northern edge of the occupied Shebaa farms, and combed the area, the state-run National News Agency reported.

At dawn, four Israeli soldiers crossed a distance of 30 meters into the liberated zone at the Ross mountain. They combed the area for half an hour and then retreated.

Israel downed a Syrian warplane over the Golan Heights on Tuesday in the first such incident in three decades and warned it would respond "forcefully" if its security is threatened.

It was the first time Israel had shot down a piloted Syrian plane since 1985 and drew a sharp response from Damascus.

In a landmark decision, a New York jury on Monday found the Jordan-based multinational Arab Bank liable on 24 counts of supporting terrorism by transferring funds to Hamas.

The jury deliberated for nearly two full days after a month-long trial at the eastern district court in Brooklyn that followed a federal law suit filed in 2004.

Israel's secretive overseas spy agency, the Mossad, launched a new website Monday to recruit potential spooks, as well as an espionage thriller-type video hoping to hook new talent.

The site, Mossad.gov.il, available in Hebrew, English, Russian, French, Arabic and Persian, features inspirational quotations from Israeli leaders past and present, and an unattributed "This is my secret -- always and forever", which links to the careers section.