Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu approved an Egyptian request to increase its number of troops in the Sinai Peninsula in order to "restore order" in the region, public radio said on Monday.

The number of Egyptian forces in the peninsula is limited by the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, but Netanyahu approved the move following a request from Cairo, the radio said.

Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem has advised some Lebanese parties to put Lebanon’s interest before any other interest and work to solve the daily problems of the people rather than betting on the Shiite party’s downfall.

In an interview with As Safir daily published Monday, Qassem said: “Lebanon’s interest should be put before other personal interests and before the logic of farms and different foreign guardianships.”

A Jordanian and an Israeli are to go on trial in Egypt on charges of spying for the Jewish state's intelligence services, the state news agency MENA said on Sunday.

The telecoms engineer from Jordan and the Israeli "officer with the Mossad" spy agency are to go on trial in Egypt's state security court on charges of having worked "to damage the national interests of Egypt," it said.

China's chief of staff General Chen Bingde on Sunday met his Israeli counterpart General Benny Gantz and Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv, the ministry said in a statement.

"The defense minister and the Chinese chief of staff discussed the situation in the region, relations with the Palestinian Authority and the situation in Pakistan and Iran, as well as the fight against global terrorism," it said without elaborating.

The Palestinian foreign minister has said that the Palestinians expect their bid for United Nations recognition will receive a boost from Lebanon's taking over the presidency of the U.N. Security Council.

Riad Malki said Saturday the Palestinians will press ahead as planned with their independence bid in late September.

Egyptian tanks were rolling into a town near Gaza's border on Saturday for an anticipated operation against militants who attacked a gas pipeline to Israel and police stations, security officials said.

The officials said the tanks and more than 1,000 soldiers and policemen, deployed on Friday and Saturday, would try to restore order to a lawless section in the north of the Sinai Peninsula, and then move southwards to a mountainous region where armed outlaws were hiding.

Tens of thousands gathered for fresh demonstrations Saturday outside Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, after leaders of a hugely popular social movement called for rallies across Israel to protest high prices and living conditions.

At 9:00 pm local time (18:00 GMT), some 50,000 people were mobilized throughout the country, police said.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas revealed he held four secret meetings with Israeli President Shimon Peres in a bid to revive stalled peace talks, a Palestinian official said Saturday.

He quoted Abbas as saying at a meeting of his Fatah party on Friday that: "I met Shimon Peres four times in Amman and London in an attempt to restart negotiations and the peace process on a correct foundation."

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon revealed on Friday that Lebanon and Israel agreed to discuss issues of maritime security through a tripartite mechanism and the possible assistance of local experts, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Saturday.

He made the announcement in a report he presented to the U.N. Security Council.

Egypt on Friday blasted Israel's approval of 1,600 new homes in an east Jerusalem settlement as a "major obstacle" to the start of new peace talks with the Palestinians.

"We cannot accept this, we condemn it categorically," Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr said in Berlin during his first European visit since taking office last month, according to remarks translated into German by an interpreter.