Israel maintained a worried silence on Thursday following the overthrow of Egypt's first democratically-elected president, Mohammed Morsi, by the Egyptian army.

Government officials, who are normally quick to comment on regional developments, largely maintained an unusual silence after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered his cabinet not to comment on the crisis, press reports said.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon on Wednesday handed over to the army two shepherds that were kidnapped by Israeli forces a day earlier, the state-run National News Agency reported.

Youssef Hussein Rhayyel and Youssef Mohammed Zahra were kidnapped on Tuesday from a region near the southern town of Shebaa, according to the NNA.

The employees of the Directorate General of Antiquities on Wednesday found remnants of a corpse dating to more than 30 years ago while conducting maintenance works at Beaufort Castle (al-Shaqif Fortress) near the southern town of Arnoun, state-run National News Agency reported.

“At once, army intelligence agents from the Nabatiyeh department and members of the Internal Security Forces headed to the location accompanied by Nabatiyeh's forensic doctor Jamal Ello, who examined the remnants that turned out to be consisted of a leg bone and foot bones,” NNA said.

The Israeli army on Tuesday kidnapped two shepherds from a region near the southern town of Shebaa, the state-run National News Agency reported.

"Youssef Hussein Rhayyel and Youssef Mohammed Zahra were abducted into the occupied Shebaa Farms,” the NNA noted.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said on Tuesday that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had made "useful and constructive proposals" during his four-day visit last week and said he was "optimistic" about the outcome.

His remarks, at a news conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, came in the wake of Kerry's latest attempt to coax Israel and the Palestinians back into direct peace talks, in a visit which the chief Palestinian negotiator said had failed to achieve any breakthrough.

A Palestinian teenager was knocked down and killed by an Israeli military jeep during overnight clashes in a village in the southern West Bank, Palestinian police and witnesses said Tuesday.

The youth, 19-year-old Moataz Sharawna, died after being hit by the vehicle after several hours of clashes between stone throwers and troops which began at midnight in Dura, which lies just southwest of the city of Hebron, a police spokesman told Agence France Presse.

Puppeteers from the Israeli version of Sesame Street protested Monday against Israel's closure of a Palestinian children's puppet festival, arguing that puppet theater poses no threat to Israeli security.

Ariel Doron, the voice of Elmo on the Israeli version of the popular children's television show, and Yousef Sweid, who plays an Arab Muppet on the show, created a Facebook group named Puppets4All calling on Israel to permit the festival. Two other Israeli Sesame Street puppeteers, along with a number of fellow Israeli actors, uploaded photos to the Facebook group holding puppets and signs protesting the closure.

Marathon U.S.-led efforts to revive direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians need "consistent and constant" European support, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

Speaking at the start of talks with visiting Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Netanyahu reiterated his readiness to begin talks with the Palestinians.

The United Nations is "seriously concerned" about its shrinking peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights and is seeking to recruit troops from Europe to fill the gap, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday.

The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), based on the tense border between Syria and Israel, has seen its numbers dwindle to around 530 from 1,050 after Japan and Croatia withdrew their contingents.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on Monday due to seek Italy's help in putting Hizbullah on a European Union list of “terrorist” organizations.

Ahead of talks with his Italian counterpart Enrico Letta, Netanyahu told reporters that Hizbullah is one of the most "pre-eminent terrorist organizations of our time," adding that the group currently poses the most immediate security threat to Israel, in remarks carried by the website of The Jerusalem Post.