Five Palestinians were wounded by Israeli army gunfire Friday near the border fence in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical sources said.

Ashraf al-Qudra, a spokesman for the Hamas-run health ministry in the territory, said the five men were in their early twenties.

Workers at the U.N.'s Palestinian refugee agency in the West Bank have ended a two-month strike over low wages and poor conditions that paralyzed services in camps and shut down schools.

The United Nations has already said the cash-strapped agency was struggling to pay thousands of workers, while the IMF has warned of the danger of rising unemployment in the Palestinian territories if there is no progress in U.S.-backed peace talks.

An influential U.S. senator sought Thursday to revive a push for sanctions to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, arguing that calling for new penalties is not war-mongering as suggested by the White House.

Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, went on the offensive in a marathon floor speech outlining his distrust of the Iranian regime, saying he was "deeply skeptical" of Tehran's intention to adhere to an interim agreement with world powers over its nuclear program.

The Israeli military denied media reports it shot down a rocket fired from Gaza at southern Israel on Thursday, saying the projectile fell on open ground.

"There was no interception," a spokesman told Agence France Presse. "A rocket fell."

Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews battled police across Israel on Thursday in a wave of protests against their young men being called up for military service.

Police said that around 3,000 protesters blocked main roads in Jerusalem, the ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, the southern city of Ashdod and towns in central Israel.

Israel on Thursday set a Guinness record for the largest online civics class, with President Shimon Peres simultaneously teaching a lesson to more than 9,500 students.

And in an unexpected twist, Peres himself was also presented with a personal award -- that of being the oldest serving head of state in the world, presidential spokesman Yair Zivan said.

Three Israeli settlers have been charged with carrying out so-called "price tag" attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, the justice ministry said on Thursday.

It was the first time that charges have been pressed over acts of vandalism by Jewish extremists which were not directly related to government demolition of rogue settler outposts, local media said.

Israel on Wednesday pushed forward with plans to build more than 550 new homes in settlement neighborhoods of annexed east Jerusalem, the city council said.

In a statement listing "building permits that were approved" during a local planning committee session, it said permits were granted to private contractors to build 386 units in Har Homa, 136 units in Neve Yaakov and 36 units in Pisgat Zeev.

The failure of peace talks with the Palestinians would not lead to an increase in violence, the head of Israel's domestic security agency said Tuesday.

"Even if the peace negotiations fail, we are not expecting a third Intifada," or uprising, Shin Bet chief Yoram Cohen was cited by army radio as telling the parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee.

Israel's top court has given the government two months to explain why is has not proposed an alternative route for the West Bank barrier in a valley near Jerusalem.

The decision, handed down by the High Court Monday, relates to an appeal by Palestinian residents of Beit Jala, who say the proposed route will separate them from their olive groves and divide the local Christian community.