Egypt's military has arrested a jihadist suspected of involvement in an ambush that killed 16 Egyptian soldiers near the border with Israel last year, an army spokesman said Tuesday.

Silmi Mohammed Masbah was arrested Monday in Sinai and is allegedly a member of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis -- an Al-Qaida-inspired militant group operating in the restive peninsula -- said military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali.

The U.N. Security Council on Monday "deplored" the killing of an Israeli soldier in a cross-border shooting and called for moves to ease tensions with Lebanon.

A statement agreed by the 15-nation body welcomed action already taken to investigate the killing on Sunday, which Israel has blamed on Lebanese troops.

An association of more than 5,000 U.S. teachers and researchers voted to boycott Israel in a move condemned by the World Jewish Congress on Monday as "moral bankruptcy."

Members of the American Studies Association, the largest group devoted to the interdisciplinary study of American culture and history, voted on Sunday by two-thirds to endorse the boycott.

France on Monday called for calm and restraint on the frontier between Lebanon and Israel after an Israeli soldier was killed Sunday in a cross-border shooting.

In a statement, the French foreign ministry urged “calm and restraint” and stressed the need to “respect and implement (U.N.) Security Council Resolution 1701” which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah and beefed up the presence of U.N. peacekeepers.

The Lebanese army on Monday described the deadly shooting on the border with Israel as "an individual act by one of the soldiers," noting that it will address the repercussions of the incident in coordination with the U.N. peacekeeping force.

“To clarify the shooting incident that happened overnight in the Ras al-Naqoura border area, the Army Command notes that what happened resulted from an individual act by one of the soldiers,” the army said in a statement.

Hundreds of African illegal immigrants on Monday began a protest march to Jerusalem after fleeing a detention center in the south where they were being held, an Agence France Presse correspondent said.

The group, all men, could be seen marching northwards along a highway near Lahav junction in southern Israel, holding up signs reading: "Recognize us as refugees" and "Holot (detention) facility is a prison," the correspondent said.

The European Union on Monday pledged "unprecedented" levels of support to both Israel and the Palestinians should the two parties reach a final status agreement.

Commending U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for his efforts in launching direct talks between the two, EU foreign ministers said the 28-nation bloc would "contribute substantially" to post-conflict arrangements to ensure the sustainability of a peace deal.

Speaker Nabih Berri urged on Monday the International Telecommunication Union to form a committee to investigate the newly established Israeli spying stations along its border with Lebanon.

“The newly Israeli aggression is a campaign to spy on the Lebanese, the embassies and international organizations in the country,” Berri said during a meeting with caretaker Telecom Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui and the secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union Hamadoun Touré.

A Lebanese soldier, who went missing after a shooting on an Israeli army unit on Sunday night, has returned to his post, the state-run National News Agency reported.

NNA and Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said that the soldier reported to duty in Naqoura on Monday morning after hiding in a bush throughout the night.

A week after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly chose to miss Nelson Mandela's memorial service because of travel costs, Israeli ministers voted Sunday to consider buying an Israeli equivalent of "Air Force One."

They approved creating a committee to consider buying a plane for the premier and president, "as is customary in many other countries," a government statement said, floating the possibility of a shared aircraft for Netanyahu and globe-trotting President Shimon Peres.