Christians and Jews in the Holy Land were set to begin marking their most important festivals of the year on Friday, with Good Friday and the Jewish holiday of Passover coinciding.

Jewish families were completing last-minute preparations for Passover, which begins at sundown and commemorates the Israelite's exodus from slavery in Egypt, receipt of the Torah at Mount Sinai and eventual journey into the Promised Land.

Iran and Hizbullah have increased their military aid to the regime of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad to assist him in his 13-month crackdown on protestors, Israeli daily Haaretz quoted Western intelligence reports as saying.

The newspaper reported that Israeli defense officials have said the potential fall of the Assad regime prompted Iran and Hizbullah to increase their involvement in the Syrian crisis.

Israel restricted access to its territory from the West Bank on Friday ahead of the Jewish Passover holiday, the military said, as police tightened security after a rocket attack on Eilat.

Checkpoints would be closed to general traffic but "persons in need of medical attention, humanitarian aid or exceptional cases will be permitted to pass for care" with the army's authorization, it said in a statement.

A rocket fired from the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula exploded in the Israeli Red Sea resort town of Eilat early on Thursday but caused no injuries or damage, a senior police official said.

Public radio said police in Eilat had been put on the highest state of alert following the blast.

Israel's government on Wednesday published tenders for 1,121 new settler homes as it faced settler anger over its decision to evict Israeli families from a disputed home in the Palestinian city of Hebron.

Documents published on the Israeli housing ministry website showed the government had issued tenders for 872 new homes in Har Homa, a contentious settlement neighborhood in the southern part of Arab east Jerusalem.

Israeli President Shimon Peres stated on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar Assad is “more brutal” and “less clever” than his late father Hafez, reported Israeli news website ynetnews.com.

He said while touring the Golan Heights with Israeli Chief of Staff Benny Gantz: “Assad’s fall will be a deathblow to Hizbullah.”

The head of the Israeli Northern Command Major General Yair Golan stated that Hizbullah’s possession of chemical weapons obligates Israel to take the necessary measures to combat them.

He added that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is a “legitimate” target for the Jewish state.

Head of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon Major-General Paolo Serra stressed on Wednesday the importance of marking the Blue Line which is an “essential task of the UNIFIL’s mandate.”

“Completing the process will reduce the potential for incidents and tensions in the area,” Serra said during a ceremony marking the International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Palestinian medics on Wednesday found the body of a Palestinian man who was shot dead by Israeli troops overnight east of Gaza City, close to the border, a spokesman said.

"The body of a Palestinian martyr who was killed by Israeli fire was found at dawn to the east of Gaza City's cemetery," said emergency services spokesman Adham Abu Selmiya.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will seek to legalize three settler outposts established illegally in the West Bank, he told his government on Wednesday.

"It is my intention to bring to the government in the near future a recommendation from the defense minister, and the necessary permissions, for regulating the status of the communities of Bruchin, Sansana and Rekhelim," he said.