The Rolling Stones announced plans Tuesday for an Israeli concert in June, prompting pro-Palestinian activists promoting a boycott of the country to say that would be equivalent to performing in apartheid South Africa.

To jubilation from the Israeli media, a spokeswoman for the British rock icons said the band will perform in Tel Aviv's Hayarkon Park on June 4 as part of its forthcoming European tour.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman threatened Tuesday to seek a court order forcing ministry staff, who have been on strike since Sunday, back to work.

Lieberman, who has been locked out of his own office at the ministry, told a news conference in parliament he was examining "the possibility" of obtaining back-to-work orders.

Israeli Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, tipped as a possible presidential candidate, was questioned by police Tuesday over what media said were suspicions of a 1999 sexual offense.

"He was questioned for two hours by the national unit of the Israeli police which deals with cases involving officials," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse.

A long-awaited compensation deal for Turkish victims of a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza aid flotilla four years ago will soon be signed, Ankara said on Tuesday.

The May 2010 Israeli assault on the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara while it was in international waters on its way to Gaza triggered a severe diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

Energy Minister Silvan Shalom, tipped as a possible presidential candidate, has been accused of sexual assault against a female former employee, Israeli media reported on Monday.

The alleged victim, who worked for the now 55-year-old member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, has filed a complaint, the reports said.

A majority of Palestinians would support extending peace talks with Israel beyond an April deadline, but only in exchange for the release of additional prisoners, according to a poll published Monday.

Without this condition, most Palestinians would reject extending the faltering negotiations, which have achieved no apparent progress in the nearly nine months since U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry brought the two sides to the table.

Gaza's Hamas premier Ismail Haniya warned Israel on Sunday it would pay dearly if it heeded its foreign minister's call to reoccupy the Palestinian enclave to try to halt rocket attacks.

"We tell the enemy and (Foreign Minister Avigdor) Lieberman who is threatening to reoccupy Gaza that the time for your threats is over," Haniya told a rally in Gaza City.

Israeli Prime Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday that the army would use force against anybody plotting attacks against the Jewish state, after troops killed three Palestinians in a West Bank raid.

"Over the weekend, our forces struck at a terrorist who had organized attacks on Israelis and was also planning attacks on innocent civilians," Netanyahu told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting.

Cyprus's recently appointed Defense Minister Tasos Mitsopoulos died in hospital on Saturday after suffering a brain haemorrhage, state media said.

State radio said Mitsopoulos died at Nicosia General Hospital at 1:30 pm (11:30 GMT).

Three Palestinians were killed in Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank early on Saturday after Israeli soldiers launched an operation to arrest a militant, Palestinian officials said.

Medical and security sources said two of those killed were militants and the third was a civilian. They said 14 Palestinians were also wounded, with two in critical condition.