Israel's participation in Egyptian-brokered talks on consolidating a Gaza ceasefire is aimed at bolstering its security not a peace deal with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in remarks published Wednesday.

"These are negotiations on security issues, not peace negotiations," Netanyahu told pro-government freesheet Israel Hayom.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a National Authority for Cyber Defense on Sunday to oversee the protection of both military and civilian systems.

The announcement comes after Netanyahu accused regional foe Iran of launching repeated cyber attacks on Israel, particularly during its 50-day conflict with Hamas in July and August.

Israel's Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Wednesday urged the European Union not to make a "bad deal" with Iran over its nuclear program, ahead of crucial talks.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called for an increase in defense spending, after a bloody and costly war in Gaza.

"There is no leader who, faced with the threats that are multiplying around us, would not allow or demand a significant increase in the defense budget, to counter security challenges," he said in a statement.

Israel on Wednesday hailed U.S. efforts to form an alliance to fight jihadists in Syria and Iraq but raised concerns of a rapprochement between Washington and Israel's arch-foe Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met for over two hours Wednesday with Palestinian negotiators for "constructive" talks on future relations with Israel, a U.S. official said.

The talks come just days after Israel announced its biggest grab of Palestinian land since the 1980s, and as a new showdown looms at the United Nations with the increasingly frustrated Palestinians planning to push a resolution setting a three-year deadline to end the Israeli occupation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel agreed to a permanent truce in its 50-day Gaza war with Hamas in order to keep focused on the threat from regional militants.

"We fought for 50 days and we could have fought for 500 days, but we are in a situation where the Islamic State is at the gates of Jordan, al-Qaida is in the Golan and Hizbullah is at the border with Lebanon," Netanyahu said in an address on public television.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Islamist foe Hamas had achieved none of its demands in a truce ending 50 days of deadly conflict in Gaza.

"Hamas was hit hard and got none of its demands," Netanyahu said at a news conference in Jerusalem, his first comments since the ceasefire went into effect on Tuesday evening.

A truce deal between Israel and Hamas may have ended 50 days of bloodshed in Gaza but it also exposed a clear split within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition.

The ceasefire, effective from 1600 GMT on Tuesday, was accepted by Netanyahu following consultations with his Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon, press reports said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his ministers on Sunday that the military campaign against Gaza militants would continue until peace is restored to southern Israel.