Israel wants to calm a fierce row that has erupted with one-time ally Turkey over a 2010 raid on an aid flotilla, but not at any cost, including issuing an apology, ministers and officials said Sunday.

In recent days, ties between the once-friendly nations appear to have plumbed new depths, with Ankara expelling Israel's ambassador and suspending military agreements in the wake of a U.N. report on the deadly 2010 raid.

Retired Brigadier General Fayez Karam’s conviction of spying for Israel has demonstrated the credibility of the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau in light of the “harsh political campaign that was launched against it by the Free Patriotic Movement”, reported the daily An Nahar on Sunday.

Informed sources told the daily however that his sentence to two years on charges of collaborating with Israel is short in comparison to other individuals who have been given life sentences for the same charges.

An estimated 400,000 Israelis poured into streets across the Jewish state on Saturday to protest the high cost of living, after organizers called for a "million-man march" to revitalize their movement.

The estimated figures were record-breaking, exceeding even the 300,000 people who took part in similar demonstration on August 6, and lending new life to the six-week old movement calling for sweeping economic reforms.

Top diplomats piled pressure on Turkey and Israel to make up Saturday after Ankara's decision to expel the Jewish state's ambassador in retaliation for last year's deadly Gaza flotilla raid.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, senior European foreign ministers and officials in Washington all urged the one-time allies to end their increasingly poisonous dispute that they worried could impact on the wider Middle East.

Egypt's military has started to close smuggling tunnels to Gaza, witnesses said on Saturday, amid Israeli warnings of plans by Gazan militants to attack the Jewish state through Egyptian territory.

Witnesses along the 12-kilometre border with the Islamist Hamas-controlled Palestinian enclave said soldiers had begun using earth-moving equipment to seal tunnel openings with rocks and sand.

Speaker Nabih Berri slammed some officials in the state without naming them, stressing that they don’t want to continue the establishment of Lebanon’s national defenses.

Berri statements came after Israeli press reported that their country began establishing a military strategy to secure the oil fields disputed over with Lebanon.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon Saturday said he sincerely hoped that Israel and Turkey could improve ties, saying both states were critical to improving stability in the Middle East.

"I sincerely hope that Israel and Turkey will improve their relationship," Ban told reporters in Canberra after Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador to Ankara and suspended all military ties with its one-time ally.

Israel will not apologize for its deadly 2010 raid on a Turkish-led flotilla of Gaza aid ships, an Israeli diplomatic source said Friday after a U.N. report accused the Jewish state of using excessive force.

"Israel once again expresses its regrets for the loss of human life but there will be no apology for this operation," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

Turkey expelled the Israeli ambassador to Ankara on Friday and suspended all military ties with its one-time ally after a U.N. report condemned excessive force used by Israel on a Gaza aid flotilla.

"At this point the measures we are taking are: The relations between Turkey and Israel will be downgraded to second secretary level. All officials over the level of second secretary, primarily the ambassador, will turn back to their country at the latest on Wednesday," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said at a press conference.

Israeli activists have called for a "demonstration of one million" people as part of their ongoing protest movement against rising costs of living in the Jewish state, organizers said Friday.

It will be held Saturday evening across Israel, the organizers said.