Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Friday visited relatives of a citizen reportedly held captive by Hamas after a top aide apologized for telling them he would suffer if they went public.

Avraham Mengistu is one of two Israelis whose suspected detention in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip was revealed Thursday after a gag order was lifted.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling coalition lost a parliamentary vote Wednesday for the first time since taking office with a knife-edge majority in May.

The vote, on a technical issue regarding jurisdiction of state bailiffs, did not directly challenge the government's survival but highlighted the challenge of governance with the coalition commanding just 61 seats in the 120-member legislature.

Israel has fired the latest shot in its campaign against the impending deal on Iran's nuclear program, with an animated video comparing the Islamic republic to the Islamic State group.

"The Islamic state of Iran -- like ISIS. Just much bigger," is the title and punchline of the cartoon clip posted on Tuesday on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official Twitter account.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Tuesday that the deal being negotiated between world powers and Iran would allow it to develop nuclear weapons, hours before a deadline to reach an accord expired.

Netanyahu has consistently condemned the proposed deal with Iran and has not ruled out the use of military force to keep it from acquiring atomic weapons. Iran denies its nuclear program is aimed at achieving military abilities.

Israel has approved extending a security barrier to part of its eastern border with Jordan in a bid to keep out militants and illegal migrants, the prime minister's office said Monday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the new barrier was a continuation of the one built along the Egyptian border, which "blocked the entry of illegal migrants into Israel and the various terrorist movements."

Days before the deadline for an Iranian nuclear deal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told young pilots Thursday that they would be at the forefront of safeguarding Israel.

"Foremost among the threats endangering our security is the Iranian effort to arm itself with a nuclear weapon," a statement from Netanyahu's office quoted him as telling newly-graduated pilots receiving their wings.

Israeli police said Wednesday they had carried out a "wave of arrests" of suspects involved in two attacks by Druze on military vehicles transporting wounded Syrians to hospital.

Israeli media said nine Druze were arrested over the attacks on Monday, when a mob killed a Syrian and wounded another in the Golan Heights and an ambulance was stoned in the Galilee town of Hurfesh.

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday told visiting French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that any new Palestinian unity government should not include Hamas, France's top diplomat said.

The remarks came on the eve of a key meeting of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to discuss forming a new cabinet after the government collapsed this week amid a deepening rift with Hamas, the de facto rulers of the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected "international dictates" ahead of a visit by France's top diplomat, with Paris advocating a U.N. resolution laying out parameters for peace talks.

With negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians stalled for more than a year, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was to hold separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Sunday in a push to revive talks.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Saturday urged the resumption of Middle East peace talks, while warning that continued Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank damaged chances of a final deal. 

"What's important is that negotiations restart," Fabius told reporters during a visit to Cairo, where he held what he said were intensive talks with Egyptian officials on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.