Washington has criticized Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef over remarks that Palestinians should perish from this world.

"We regret and condemn the inflammatory statements by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef," US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said on Sunday.

"These remarks are not only deeply offensive, but incitement such as this hurts the cause of peace," he added.

"As we move forward to re-launch peace negotiations, it is important that actions by people on all sides help to advance our effort, not hinder it," Crowley said.

The United States government has amended a warning to its citizens not to go to the Israeli resort of Eilat. The warning was issued after some missiles were fired towards the city and the surrounding area, including the nearby Jordanian city of Aqaba last week.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry objected to the warning because it only referred to Eilat and not Aqaba, where one civilian was killed in the attack. As there were no casualties on the Israeli side of the border, the Israeli government regarded such a warning as "unfair and a reward for terrorism".

By Glenn Kessler

Rashid Khalidi, a friend of President Obama's active in Palestinian causes, has signed an appeal for funds to send to Gaza an aid ship that would be named after the president's best-selling book, "The Audacity of Hope."

A group calling itself U.S. Boat to Gaza is seeking $370,000 in the next month to send the ship in an effort to thwart the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian enclave controlled by the militant group Hamas.

A new report claims that the United States could cut its strategic alliance with Israel in the event of the Jewish state mounting a strike against Iran. This would represent the first real threat to Israel's existence since 1973.

The report, entitled "How the US benefited from its alliance with Israel", states that US President Barak Obama appears ready to hit the "reset" button with Tel Aviv in the face of Iran's nuclear escalation, having hinted at his desire to restructure the conditions of US relations with Israel.