Russia, the only world power with ties to the Syrian regime, on Friday urged President Bashar Assad to talk to the opposition as Moscow itself put out feelers to the rebels.

The new pressure from Russia on the Assad regime came as Moscow revved up its bid to save a tattered peace process by first hosting a top government envoy and then planning for a meeting Saturday with Syria peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned Thursday that he would disband his Palestinian Authority if there was no Israeli movement toward renewing peace talks after Israel's elections on January 22.

Abbas, in an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, said that if such a situation arose he would hand full responsibility for the occupied West Bank to the Israeli government.

Ousted President Hosni Mubarak has a build-up of fluid in his lungs and cracked ribs, Egypt's official news agency MENA reported after he was transferred from prison to military hospital for treatment.

The state prosecutor ordered Mubarak's transfer on Thursday after his health deteriorated, a prosecution source had said, more than a week after he was briefly hospitalized after slipping in a prison bathroom and hurting his head.

Russia, one of the few powers to maintain links with the Syrian regime of President Bashar Assad, has sent an invitation for talks to the head of the opposition Syria National Coalition, a top diplomat said Friday.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the RIA Novosti news agency the talks with National Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib could take place in Moscow or a foreign location like Geneva or Cairo.

A delegation of pro-Palestinian activists, mainly French and Egyptian, crossed into Gaza from Egypt on Thursday to deliver aid, AFP correspondents at the border reported.

The "Welcome to Palestine" delegation of about 90 people is to stay in the territory until January 1, in solidarity with the people of Gaza and in protest against the Israeli blockade in force since 2006, organizers say.

Russia on Thursday warned of "bloody chaos" in Syria should peace talks led by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi fail to end the 21-month conflict estimated to have claimed more than 45,000 lives.

"The alternative to a peaceful solution is bloody chaos. The longer it continues, the greater its scale -- and the worse things get for all," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the Interfax news agency.

Egypt's public prosecutor on Thursday ordered a probe into the top three leaders of the opposition on suspicion of trying to incite followers to overthrow President Mohamed Morsi, a legal source said.

The prosecutor, Taalat Ibrahim Abdallah, who was appointed by Morsi late last month, signed the order against the leaders of the opposition National Salvation Front, which led protests against Morsi's drive to have a new constitution adopted.

Israeli prosecutors have decided to toughen charges leveled against ex-foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman of fraud and breach of trust, the justice ministry said on Thursday.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced on December 13 that he would be charging Lieberman with the two offenses over the promotion of Israel's former ambassador to Belarus, Zeev Ben Arie, and presented the indictment to parliament before filing it to the court.

Three Israeli settlers in the West Bank were on Thursday charged in Beersheva district court with carrying out a "price-tag" attack against Palestinian property, the justice ministry said.

According to the charge-sheet, the three men, in their 20s, drove to the West Bank village al Asja, northeast of Dhahiriya in the southern Hebron hills, on December 2.

Egypt's legal and parliamentary affairs minister announced his resignation on Thursday, the day after President Mohamed Morsi vowed a government reshuffle to tackle the country's troubled economy.

Mohammed Mahsoub said he was stepping down because "many policies and efforts contradict my personal convictions," according to his letter published on the Facebook page belonging to a leader of his moderate Islamist Wasat party.