Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said Thursday he has overhauled his Cabinet, replacing seven ministers and creating two new positions, including his government's first female minister, who will oversee a new ministry for women's affairs.

The move comes as rival Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank is also reshaping his Cabinet. Though Fayyad had expressed interest in including Hamas officials in his new government, so far there are no signs that Hamas will take part.

The two Palestinian factions split in 2007, with Hamas taking control of Gaza and the Fatah Party-dominated Palestinian Authority running the West Bank. Both reorganizations are seen as attempts by Palestinian leaders to respond to rising unrest in the Arab world by reforming their governments.

The Hamas reshuffling did not include participation from other Gaza factions or independents. All of the seven new ministers are either Hamas lawmakers or leaders. In December, Haniyeh made an offer to Gaza-based political factions to join his new government but none accepted.

In addition to being head of the government, Haniyeh is also the minister of finance, foreign affairs and education. Hamas officials described the shakeup as an “administrative change that aims to improve the performance of the Cabinet."

"This reshuffle will not harm the efforts to restore unity" with the Palestinian Authority, said Salah al-Bardwail, a Gaza-based Hamas leader.

During a government meeting Thursday, Haniyeh said his government would resign if a reconciliation deal between his movement and Fatah is achieved. Fatah officials in the West Bank rejected the reorganization, describing Hamas' government as illegitimate.

-- Ahmed Aldabba in Gaza City

Libya's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, told Reuters on Friday that Moammar Kadafi's government had accepted a peace initiative put forward by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

Chavez summoned an emergency meeting Friday of his closest Latin American allies, Bloomberg reported, in a bid to mediate the Libyan crisis.

“On the agenda is the constitution of an international humanitarian committee for the peace and union of the Libyan people, which has been well received by Col. Kadafi’s government,” Venezuela Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said in comments carried by state television. “There’s an open debate between the vision of the south, the vision of peace, and the warlike vision from NATO and the U.S. that aims to impose itself on the world yet again, on the Arab peoples and, particularly, on the Libyan people.”

Maduro said Libyan Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa authorized Venezuela to select members of the commission, according to a letter dated March 3 that he read on state TV.

Troops loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi fired tear gas and live ammunition into a crowd of protesters marching in Tripoli Friday, the Associated Press reported.

More than 1,500 protesters marched from a mosque in the Tajoura district of the Libyan capital after midday prayers, chanting for the end of Kadafi's regime and waving the red, black and green flag of the monarchy, which he replaced on seizing power in 1969, AP reported.

At least four people were killed and seven wounded when Yemeni soldiers armed with heavy machine-guns opened fire on protesters throwing rocks at their army post in the northern town of Harf Sofyan, the Associated Press reported.

A witness, who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal, said the soldiers apparently thought the protesters were trying to attack the post.

Tens of thousands of people rallied Friday in several cities across Yemen,  including the capital, Sana, calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh, a U.S. ally, has promised to step down after national elections in 2013, an offer rejected by the opposition.

Interpol has issued an international security alert for Moammar Kadafi and 15 of his relatives and associates to help enforce international sanctions against the Libyan strongman and his regime.

The international police organization said in a statement Friday that Kadafi, his relatives and allies “have been identified as being involved in or complicit in planning attacks, including aerial bombardments, on civilian populations." 

"As a first priority, we must work to protect the civilian populations of Libya and of any country into which these Libyan individuals may travel or attempt to move their assets,” said Interpol  Secretary-General Ronald K. Noble.

Interpol issued an orange alert, indicating an act or event that poses a risk to public safety. The alert is sent to Interpol's 188 members around the world, and provides law enforcement and border police with information on the targeted individuals that can be used to block their movements and freeze their assets.

An attack by Libyan military forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi on a weapons dump near Benghazi in rebel-controlled eastern Libya killed 17 people on Friday, Al Jazeera satellite network reported. There were no further details available, the network said.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: Libyans perform Friday prayers under pouring rain in Benghazi on Friday as loyalist forces launched a fresh airstrike on rebel territory in the east, and pumped-up opposition fighters pushed forward the front line against Moammar Kadafi's regime. Credit: Marco Longari/AFP/Getty Images

The evacuation of the tens of thousands of refugees who continue to stream across the Libyan border to Tunisia has increased dramatically, according to CNN reports.

By Friday, Tunisian authorities had created an "air bridge" from the provincial airport on the Tunisian island of Djerba that was moving thousands of migrants out of the country, according to CNN.

“We are expecting 10,000 passengers to leave every day with 66 movements, that's to say 66 planes,“ Djerba airport director Zouhaier Badreddine told CNN.

Libyan rebel leaders claimed Friday to have taken control of Ras Lanuf, a city near the center of the country's coast that is home to Libya's largest oil refinery and one of its main tanker terminals, the Al Arabiya network reported. Opposition leaders told the network that they had forced soldiers loyal to longtime Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi out of the city.

"We have taken Ras Lanuf 100%; Kadafi's forces have all left," rebel soldier Hafez Ibrahim told Reuters from inside the town.

Rajab Zawawei spoke with Reuters by telephone Friday afternoon from Ras Lanuf airport, insisting, "We have taken Ras Lanuf 100%. We took it an hour ago."

However, fighting continued there Friday, Al Arabiya reported.

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske

Photo: Anti-government forces assemble in Brega before advancing towards Ras Lanuf on Friday. Credit: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA

Forces loyal to embattled Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi on Friday bombed the outskirts of the eastern city of Benghazi, Reuters reported.

The bombing occurred at an arms depot on the outskirts of Benghazi, a rebel stronghold, according to Mustafa Gheriani, a spokesman for the opposition's Feb. 17 Coalition who spoke with Reuters.

No additional information was available about the bombing Friday morning, Reuters reported.

--  Molly Hennessy-Fiske

The U.S. government sent two C-130 military transport planes loaded with supplies to Tunisia on Friday to aid humanitarian relief efforts across the border in Libya.

Each aircraft carried three pallets of aid supplies, including 2,000 blankets, 40 rolls of plastic sheeting and 9,600 10-liter water cans, according to a statement from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The supplies, enough for at least 2,000 people, will be managd by Tunisia's Red Crescent, the statement said.

The relief operation, dubbed "Odyssey Dawn," is designed to help those who have fled the Libyan violence, Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan told CNN.

The violence in Libya escalated Friday as pro-government forces took control of Zawiya, a city near Tripoli, according to state TV. One source told CNN 15 people had died and at least 200 more were injured.

A doctor at a hospital in Zawiya told CNN "there is a river of blood" where the wounded were being treated. He said the facility was running out of medical supplies.

Forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi also clashed Friday with opponents of the regime in the eastern city of Ras Lanuf, opposition fighters and commanders told CNN.

Roughly 200,000 people have fled the intensifying violence in Libya, according to the International Organization for Migration. The number of people trying to leave, however, has declined heavily as armed government forces have intensified their presence on the Tunisian border and on roads leading up to it, the United Nations refugee agency has noted.

A number of key congressional leaders have been pressuring the White House to establish a no-fly zone over parts of Libya to aid Kadafi's opponents and ease the humanitarian crisis. Kadadfi's "air defense systems are certainly old and it [should not be] a major challenge ... to impose a no-fly zone," Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told CNN Friday.

--  Molly Hennessy-Fiske

The United Nations World Food Program said Thursday that it has urgently appealed for safe access to Libya after a ship chartered by the humanitarian aid agency to transport more than 1,000 metric tons of wheat to the eastern port of Benghazi was forced to turn back to Malta.

"This shows the scale of the challenge we face, especially if there is a need to scale up food and other assistance in Libya," Josette Sheeran, the World Food Program’s executive director, said in a statement, adding that the agency was "exploring every possible humanitarian corridor to be prepared in case needs escalate."

Citing media reports, the aid agency said there had been aerial bombings outside the port of Benghazi, and that owners of cargo vessels were reluctant to send their ships into areas where crew members could be endangered or assets damaged.

Sheeran said the U.N. agency had already airlifted high-energy biscuits to the Tunisian border, where thousands of migrant workers fleeing the violence in Libya have flocked in recent days seeking help to get back to their home countries. The agency was trying to get wheat flour into the same area, officials said.

"Our teams are looking at options to build contingency plans and ensure that those who may need food assistance, especially women and children, do not go hungry," Sheeran said.

According to information released by the World Food Program, the organization is launching a three-month, $38-million regional operation to provide food assistance inside Libya. Officials said the operation will also help people who have fled to Tunisia and Egypt, and communities suffering the economic impact of the civil unrest that has wracked the region in recent months.

-- Ann M. Simmons

The International medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders is demanding that all parties involved in the Libyan conflict grant the group access to strife-torn areas so that it can provide aid and distribute much-needed supplies.

In a statement issued Wednesday, officials from the group said members of their team in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi had received a plea for help from a doctor in the western city of Misurata, where clashes have reportedly left many people wounded.

But Misurata, like other regions in the west, has so far been inaccessible to aid workers because of a lack of security, officials for the aid organization said.  

"The doctor is asking us for drugs and medical supplies to treat wounded people," Anne Chatelain, Doctors Without Borders' medical coordinator in Benghazi, said in a written statement. "But we cannot deliver the supplies. The road to Misurata has been blocked by armed men who are stopping traffic."

The organization said that its teams at the Tunisian-Libyan border had also been barred from entering Libya.

There were reports of many wounded people in Tripoli who are in need of treatment but are afraid to go to public hospitals for fear of reprisals from pro-government militias, the officials from the group said. Some volunteer doctors were known to be helping the injured in private locations, they added.

"But they are appealing to us for drugs -- including pain medication -- and surgical equipment to ensure treatment of the injured," Rosa Crestani, an emergency coordinator for the group, said in a statement. "For the moment, this is impossible."

-- Ann M. Simmons