Though just over one week remains before Israel votes for a new parliament, there's not much of an election buzz in Nazareth, the biggest majority-Arab city in the country.

A Palestinian family of six sleep in one bedroom in a cramped, damp and mouldy three-room home.

The Mayor of Jerusalem helped wrestle a man with a knife to the ground after an ultra-Orthodox Jew was stabbed at a busy intersection.

The Government is doubtless pleased with what it will see as an elegant solution to a problem triggered last year by the appointment of New Zealand's ambassador to Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

An Israeli conductor collapsed and died in the middle of a performance as horrified audience members looked on.

King Abdullah, who has ruled Saudi Arabia since August 2005 and sought to modernise the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, has died.

A diverse and stunning coral reef is in danger of becoming the next victim of one of Israel's worst environmental disasters.

Arab workers across Israel have been sacked in a backlash following a wave of Palestinian attacks against Israelis, the country's equal opportunities body said yesterday.

People run for cover and chant slogans after an explosion went off during a funeral for Hezbollah fighters in the Lebanese capital. Video / AFP

NZ is involved in a diplomatic quarrel with Israel after the Israeli Government rejected a newly nominated ambassador because he was also accredited to the Palestinian Authority.

An Israeli air strike hit a house in central Gaza before dawn yesterday, fatally injuring five family members, including two women and two preschoolers.

Israel said it would call up 10,000 reservists as Palestinians vowed to avenge Israel's killing of three Hamas commanders in Gaza.

One young couple in Israel got more than they bargained for on their wedding day this week when their celebration became a platform for protest against intermarriage of Israel's Jewish and Arab populations.

Almost 100 protesters staged a loud picket outside NZ Superannuation Fund today as six anti-Israeli protesters chained themselves to the front desk of the company's office.

The NZ Super Fund will continue with its $900k investment in an Israeli company making white phosphorus, which critics say has been used in recent conflicts.

Tens of thousands of members of Iraqi religious minority groups driven from their homes for fear of the jihadist group Islamic State are dying of thirst and heat on a desert mountainside.

Once again, Israel may have bought itself a respite from rockets and other incursions from Palestinian territory, but nobody expects it will be a lasting peace.

The first full day of peace reveals the massive reconstruction task ahead.

Google is facing criticism for continuing to allow Android mobile users to download a game called "Bomb Gaza".

Memories of his service along the Gaza border two years ago have been streaming through the mind of Shai Davidovich this week.

Prime Minister John Key is rejecting claims the Government is too soft on Israel and should expel the Israeli Ambassador.

The birth of Palestinian quadruplets has brought some optimism to the horrific and ongoing bloodshed in conflict-stricken Gaza.

Israeli aircraft, tanks and gunboats pounded symbols of Hamas control in Gaza City in the heaviest night of bombardment in three weeks of fighting.

Israel is approaching a fateful decision on what to do when it completes the stated initial goal of its ground offensive: locating and destroying Hamas cross-border tunnels.

A young soldier killed in a firefight with Hamas gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip was born in New Zealand.