A member of the militant group Islamic Jihad was killed and three other Palestinians were wounded in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Palestinian medics and witnesses said.

Security sources said three raids targeted Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, with the initial two not causing casualties.

Israel has freed six of 27 passengers and crew who were aboard two ships intercepted by its navy while trying to run the Jewish state's blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, an official said on Saturday.

Commandos boarded the Irish-flagged Saoirse (Freedom) and the Canadian ship Tahrir (Arabic for Liberation) in international waters off Gaza on Friday before the navy escorted them to the port of Ashdod, the military said.

Israel has freed six of 27 passengers and crew who were aboard two ships intercepted by its navy while trying to run the Jewish state's blockade on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, an official said on Saturday.

Commandos boarded the Irish-flagged Saoirse (Freedom) and the Canadian ship Tahrir (Arabic for Liberation) in international waters off Gaza on Friday before the navy escorted them to the port of Ashdod, the military said.

Hizbullah sources denied on Friday that it had received word that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon had received a memorandum from former Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Marwan Dalal confirming Israel’s involvement in the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The sources told Akhbar al-Yawm news agency: “This is a new test of the STL’s credibility.”

The Israeli navy on Friday intercepted two international ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to break the blockade on Gaza, a military statement said.

"A short while ago, Israel navy soldiers boarded the vessels which were en route to the Gaza Strip, attempting to break the maritime security blockade that is in place in accordance with international law," it said.

Thousands of Iranians chanting "Death to America" marked the anniversary on Friday of the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy amid references to recent U.S. allegations of an Iranian assassination plot.

The annual celebration in front of what Iranians call "the den of spies" was also used this year as a platform to hail the Arab Spring -- termed the "Islamic awakening" here -- and to denounce Israel.

Irish activists supporting a new bid to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip urged their government on Thursday to seek Israeli assurances that a new aid flotilla would be allowed free passage.

The two vessels, the Irish Saoirse (meaning Freedom) and the Canadian Tahrir (Liberation in Arabic) which are carrying 27 people, are south-west of Cyprus and expect to reach Gaza by Friday, the activists told a press conference in Dublin.

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Thursday that the Syrian regime cannot go ahead with the Arab League proposal even though it had announced its acceptance of the initiative “without reservations.”

He added: “The regime has only made a political maneuver and it cannot withdraw its troops from the streets and it will not allow the media and rights groups to enter Syria.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday ordered a halt to Israel's financial contributions to UNESCO after the U.N. cultural organization granted the Palestinians full membership.

Netanyahu "ordered that Israel's $2 million-per-annum participation in the budget of UNESCO be frozen, following the organization’s decision to accept the Palestinian Authority into its ranks," the premier's office said.

Libyan National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said on Thursday that revealing the fate of Imam Moussa al-Sadr is a priority for the Libyan authorities.

On the sidelines of a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in the Libyan city of Benghazi, Abdel Jalil said: "One of the priorities of the new government is to investigate what Gadhafi did to the Libyan people and people from different nations."