A leaked U.S. Embassy cable published exclusively in Al-Akhbar on Thursday revealed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s disappointment with the Jewish state’s failure in the July 2006 war, saying that it had mishandled the situation in Lebanon.

The Wikileaks cable also quoted him as saying before the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Richard Jones that the failure empowered Israel’s enemies in Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that Iran, Syria and Hizbullah “and other terrorist elements” are making daily efforts “to smuggle weapons into Lebanon and Gaza."

Netanyahu made the remark after inspecting a massive shipment of weapons seized from the "Victoria" ship at the Ashdod port in southern Israel.

Israel said Sunday it has okayed hundreds of new settler homes after a gruesome weekend attack in which five Israelis, three of them children, were murdered in their beds in the West Bank.

The ministerial committee for settlements, which met late on Saturday, approved construction of several hundred units across in Gush Etzion, Maale Adumim, Ariel and Kiryat Sefer, a statement from the bureau of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israel's defense minister said Monday his country must look beyond the risks that might arise from the changes sweeping the Mideast and seek opportunities to move peacemaking forward — including possible peace talks with Syria.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio that Syria appears to be signaling it might be willing to reach an accord.

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit Israeli territory on Sunday morning, raising Israel's alert level but causing no damage or casualties, according to Israel's military and police.

The latest rocket, which the military's spokeswoman said struck a field in the Eshkol region in southern Israel, comes after a string of Israeli air raids targeting militant training camps across the Gaza Strip on Saturday night.

Israeli warplanes bombed two training camps of the hardline Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip early on Saturday, Palestinian sources and the Israeli army said. No casualties were reported.

The jets hit two sites, one in the southern town of Khan Yunis and another near Nusseirat in the center of the Hamas-ruled territory, security officials said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel berated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to advance peace talks during a "tense" phone call, Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday.

Citing German sources, the newspaper said Merkel responded furiously when Netanyahu criticized Germany for supporting a Palestinian-drafted United Nations Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement construction.

The Israeli army has refused numerous requests from France for evidence to back up claims that Syria last year transferred long-range Scud missiles to Hizbullah, former French defense minister Herve Morin told The Jerusalem Post.

Last April, Israeli officials said Damascus had transferred the Scuds to Hizbullah in Lebanon. A month later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Italian counterpart Silvio Berlusconi that the Shiite party was storing the missiles inside Syrian military bases.

Israel's prime minister on Sunday accused Iran of trying to exploit the recent instability in Egypt by sending two warships through the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, saying he views the move "with gravity."

The Iranian ships were expected to make a rare crossing through the canal on Sunday or Monday en route to Syria — an Iranian ally and Israel's enemy to the north. Egypt confirmed the ships would be allowed through the strategic passage.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Hizbullah on Wednesday against any attack, after the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to take over the Galilee in northern Israel.

"Nasrallah declared today that he will conquer the Galilee," said Netanyahu. "I have news for him. He won't."