Israeli soldiers shot and moderately wounded two Palestinians in the Gaza Strip Friday as they approached the security fence on the border with the Jewish state, the Hamas-run health ministry said.

Spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra told Agence France Presse the incident took place east of Jabaliya, which is in northern Gaza.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas demanded in talks with U.S. President Barack Obama that Israel free key Palestinian prisoners, including Marwan Barghuti, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

Earlier this month, Abbas said Palestinians will not agree to extend peace talks with Israel beyond their April 29 deadline without Israel releasing more prisoners beyond the fourth and final tranche planned for later this month.

Israel's pledge to free 26 Palestinians prisoners this month will definitely not include Arab Israelis and may not even take place at all, a minister said Tuesday.

Speaking to army radio, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, an outspoken hardliner who opposes a Palestinian state, said Israel's pledge to release them was unlikely to happen because there had been no move in the U.S.-led peace process.

A far-right Israeli cabinet minister on Sunday paid a brief visit to the flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem's Old City, police said.

Housing Minister Uri Ariel, deputy leader of the hardline national religious Jewish Home party, made a short visit to the plaza during the morning as Israel marked the one-day Jewish festival of Purim, police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence France Presse.

Thirteen people were arrested on Sunday as Gaza security forces broke up a demonstration backing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of key talks at the White House, organizers said.

The rally was organized by Abbas' Fatah party which is the dominant faction in the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, but a minority in the Gaza Strip which is ruled by the rival Islamist Hamas movement.

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Saturday Mahmud Abbas was "not a partner for a final peace deal" as the Palestinian leader prepared to meet U.S. President Barack Obama.

Abbas "is a partner for receiving, not giving," Yaalon told Israel's Channel 2 television in an interview.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has criticized Israel's insistence that the Palestinians publicly declare Israel to be a Jewish state.

Kerry said Thursday that recognition had already been made in U.N. resolutions and by the late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat and it is a mistake for Israel to keep insisting on it as the two sides work towards a two-state peace agreement.

Ministers said Thursday that Israel would have difficulty approving a scheduled release of Palestinian prisoners if their leadership refuses to extend peace talks beyond an April deadline.

Israel committed to the release of 104 Palestinian prisoners in four tranches when talks were launched in July. It has so far released 78 of those in three batches, with Palestinians demanding the fourth -- scheduled for later this month -- include Arab Israelis as well.

The Revolutionary Council of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Monday unanimously endorsed his rejection of demands to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, officials at the meeting told Agence France Presse.

"President Abbas has reaffirmed his refusal to recognize the Jewishness of the State of Israel and council members stood up to hail this decision," a senior Fatah official said from the meeting in Ramallah.

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian on a road near the West Bank administrative center of Ramallah on Monday, Israeli security sources said.

The Palestinian was part of a group throwing stones at Israeli troops, who opened fire near the Ofra settlement, fatally wounding him, they said.