The U.S. and Israeli evaluation of Iran's nuclear program are closer than ever following a secret U.S. intelligence report, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday.

"It seems there really is a report by U.S. intelligence agencies. I don't know if it's by the National Intelligence Estimate or a different agency circulating between senior chambers," he told public radio, asked about the report which Israeli daily Haaretz ran on its front page.

Police and gunmen traded fire in the Sinai town of El-Arish on Thursday as security forces pushed ahead with a campaign aimed at quelling a surge in Islamist militancy, state television reported.

The state-owned Nile News television reported clashes outside a police station in the north Sinai town a day after reported air strikes killed 20 militants in a neighboring village.

The Israeli intelligence service intercepted several telephone calls between Lebanon and Burgas in Bulgaria two months before the bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and their local bus driver, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

“The volume (of calls) intensified in the three days leading up to” the bombing, a senior Israeli government official told the newspaper on condition of anonymity.

Washington is pressing the Palestinian leadership to delay a fresh bid to seek upgraded U.N. status until after the U.S. elections, a senior Palestinian official said on Wednesday.

"There are pressures from the United States and some Arab parties to delay the voting until after the United States presidential elections, due in November," PLO Executive Committee member Saleh Raafat told Voice of Palestine radio.

An Israeli court charged on Wednesday several Israeli-Arab residents of Nazareth and Ghajar for allegedly helping Hizbullah transfer explosives to Israel, the Jerusalem post reported.

The Nazareth District Court charged the men with assisting in the infiltration of the 20 kilograms of C4 explosives on June 5, it said.

An Israeli court on Tuesday backed an Israeli government policy of allowing Christians from the Gaza Strip to pray at Israeli and West Bank holy sites, and denying the enclave's Muslims the same right.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal lodged by six Gaza Muslims and Israeli non-governmental organization Gisha to challenge a ruling of the Beersheba District Court, which refused to intervene against the policy.

Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun hoped on Tuesday that the government would exert efforts to complete the state budget.

He hoped that Finance Minister Mohammed al-Safadi would cater to some of the “confusion” at his ministry in order to complete accounts, which would pave the way for the completion of the budget.

Israel has returned to Egypt the bodies of "between six and eight" gunmen involved in a deadly attack in northern Sinai who then forced their way over the Israeli border, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

Speaking to AFP, he said that some of the bodies had been so badly torn apart by explosives that it was impossible to be sure how many there were.

Senior Israeli security officials are warning that the biggest threat to Israel is not Iran’s missiles in case of a military strike by the Jewish state but a deadly response from Hizbullah, Israeli Ynet news reported.

A government source said that "Hizbullah is the long arm of Iran," adding that "this terrorist organization will undoubtedly barrage Israel with thousands of missiles. It won't begin with Kiryat Shmona and end in Haifa, but will reach further into Israel.

Egypt's army vowed Monday to "avenge" the killing of 16 troops by gunmen near the Israeli border, as President Mohammed Morsi ordered security forces to take full control of the Sinai Peninsula.

In Sunday's attack, 35 gunmen in Bedouin clothing opened fire on the troops before crossing into the Jewish state in an armored vehicle, Egyptian officials said. Israel said five gunmen were killed on its side.