A senior official from Palestinian party Fatah arrived in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip on Tuesday, ahead of reconciliation talks aimed at forming a unity government between the bitter rivals.

The Palestine Liberation Organization, which is dominated by President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah, signed a surprise reconciliation agreement in late April after years of political infighting and a seemingly unbridgeable split.

Amnesty International on Tuesday said perpetrators of torture enjoy almost "total impunity" in Morocco and Western Sahara, calling for an end to the practice, while acknowledging that it had become less frequent.

The allegations are part of a global anti-torture campaign launched by the London-based rights group.

Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Tuesday the impasse in peace talks with the Palestinians was likely to continue, two weeks after U.S.-backed negotiations collapsed.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry dragged the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table last July, ending a three-year hiatus in talks.

Yemen's air force killed five suspected Al-Qaida militants in a raid Tuesday on a convoy carrying weapons and ammunition, a local government official told AFP.

The assault comes as part of a major anti-Qaida offensive launched on April 29.

The Palestinians have written to foreign governments urging them to list Jewish extremist groups behind a spate of hate attacks as terrorist organizations, the foreign minister said on Tuesday.

Those receiving the letters include Canada, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, as well as the Arab League and the Islamic Cooperation Organization, Riyad al-Malki told Palestinian radio.

Saudi Arabia is ready to negotiate better relations with regional rival Iran, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters in Riyadh on Tuesday.

His comments came as major powers held a fresh round of nuclear talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear program amid a rapprochement between Tehran and the West.

An al-Jazeera journalist held in Egypt since August is in "critical" health and could slip into a coma after more than 100 days on hunger strike, his brother said Tuesday.

Abdullah Elshamy was arrested on August 14 when police dispersed supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, killing hundreds in clashes.

Algerian troops killed two suspected armed Islamists east of the capital on Tuesday, the defense ministry said, bringing to 14 the number of militants killed this month.

"An army detachment... eliminated two terrorists this morning, May 13, 2014, in the Gueltet Echakour locality in the Kaddara area of Boumerdes province," the ministry said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel arrived in the Saudi Arabia Tuesday, the first leg of a regional tour focusing on Iran's nuclear program and Syria's civil war.

Hagel will hold talks with Saudi officials and on Wednesday he will meet Gulf Cooperation Council defense ministers in the first US-GCC meeting of its kind since 2008.

Ehud Olmert was once described as "probably the best" politician Israel had ever produced, but a major graft scandal has tarred him as the first ex-premier to face prison for bribery.

Like many of his predecessors, the 68-year-old's reputation has been dragged through the mud by his links to a string of corruption allegations.