Social media has become one of the weapons of war. The Israeli army, which has been on Twitter since 2009, now has 286,000 followers.

Washington has warned Israel against any ground invasion of Gaza, as the UN says more than 40 of the 176 dead were children.

The residents of the Mobarat Felestin centre for the disabled had just finished suhoor, the early morning meal before a long day of fasting during Ramadan, when the first missile hit the roof.

Israeli-Palestinian relations in new crisis with violent clashes following the discovery of body of a Palestinian teenager apparently abducted in revenge attack.

To some, they are heroes ready to trade their personal liberty for the sake of high principle. To others, they are spoiled rich children, shirking their national duty on the backs of the less fortunate.

Ramping up a campaign to paint the Palestinians as the rejectionists in the troubled United States-brokered Middle-East peace efforts.

In a YouTube video with nearly 5 million views, Scarlett Johansson leans seductively into the camera and purrs: "My real job is saving the world."

Scarlett Johansson has chosen to end her collaboration with Oxfam in favour of honouring her contract with SodaStream: an Israeli company that operates in the West Bank.

Israel's former prime minister Ariel Sharon died Saturday, eight years after a debilitating stroke put him into a coma.

An Israeli soldier was killed by a Lebanese army sniper as he drove along the border, the Israeli military said, drawing Israeli threats of retaliation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu played the spoiler to Iran's attempts to ease relations with the West, calling the Iranian leader "a wolf in sheep's clothing".

Despite soothing assurances from Iran's new leaders, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implored US President Barack Obama to keep punishing sanctions in place against Tehran.

Israel wants to remain in control of 40 per cent of the West Bank and leave dozens of settlements intact as part of a peace deal that will create a Palestinian state with only temporary borders, according to Palestinian sources.

They scamper in front of you as you walk along the footpath. They skulk in the dark in the evenings. They sun themselves on top of the rubbish bins.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will travel to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories today for bilateral meetings and discussions on the Middle East Peace Process.

Visit Israel and you swiftly adjust to the solemnity with which its people honours its history, as Kevin Pilley found.

A fly with a water droplet balanced on its head features in an incredible up-close-and-personal series of pictures of bugs in amazingly sharp detail.

Israel launched an airstrike into Syria, apparently targeting a suspected weapons site, US officials said.

The Israeli military says its warplanes have struck targets in the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire toward southern Israel.

The news footage played a sorry little tale: a typical set-up and typical photo op in a dimmed room with two drooping flags.