The Maronite Patriarch vowed Wednesday to help the displaced Christians of a village in northern Israel, as he pushed forward with a controversial trip to the Jewish state.

In 1948, six months after Israel was established, the army asked Iqrit and Kufr Bir'im's residents to leave their homes for two weeks because of military operations in the area.

Israeli officials denounced as "political" Wednesday attempts by a Turkish court to secure an international arrest warrant for four former Israeli military commanders over a deadly 2010 maritime assault.

But the court ruling, issued on Monday, was unlikely to have a "significant effect" on attempts to restore full diplomatic relations between Israel and Turkey, which were badly damaged by the raid, officials said.

Police closed the flashpoint Al-Aqsa compound to visitors Wednesday as Israel marked Jerusalem Day and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged to never allow the city to be divided.

The annual celebration recalls the Israeli army's seizure of the walled Old City in what was then Jordanian-held east Jerusalem on the third day of the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel's Prisons Service has hospitalized 40 Palestinian inmates who have been refusing food for over a month in protest against the terms of their imprisonment, spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Wednesday.

Describing their condition as "reasonable" Weizman told Agence France Presse they had been taken to hospital at different stages.

An Israeli infantry unit crossed on Wednesday the southern border gate near al-Ghajjar village, al-Jadeed television reported.

According to the channel, an army unit comprised of 25 troops crossed al-Ghajjar gate and deployed eastern the Hosn al-Wazzani resort.

Former President Michel Suleiman has vowed to back the resistance if it asked for his support but on condition that it abides by a defense strategy for the country.

In remarks to As Safir daily published on Wednesday, he said: “When the resistance needs assistance, it will find President Suleiman as its supporter but within known conditions and the vision of the strategy.”

Hundreds of people turned out in Tel Aviv on Tuesday for the funerals of two Israelis gunned down at the Jewish museum in Brussels last week.

Relatives of Emmanuel and Miriam Riva, who are survived by their two teenage daughters, said the couple in their 50s had been celebrating their wedding anniversary in the Belgian capital.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi announced Tuesday from the Palestinian town of Beit Sahour his rejection of the “spring” that comes through “weapons and destruction,” condemning the Israeli separation barrier that limits the Palestinians' freedom of movement.

“We thank the Lord because all the eyes of the world are focused on the land of Palestine and on the Holy Land and because the entire world has realized that this cause is a sacred cause,” al-Rahi said in his sermon as he presided over a mass in the Palestinian town.

Six candidates put themselves forward on Tuesday for Israel's presidential election in two weeks, kicking off the race to succeed 90-year-old incumbent Shimon Peres.

MPs will elect the new head of state by secret ballot on June 10.

A fire broke out in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity early Tuesday, just hours after Pope Francis wrapped up a three-day Middle East pilgrimage which saw him visit the shrine.

Bethlehem governor Abdel-Fatah Hamayel told Agence France Presse it was a small fire which had broken out accidentally when an oil lamp fell over just before dawn, causing some damage to fabric wall hangings inside the Grotto of the Nativity itself.