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.

Israel revived one of its most controversial policies by blowing up the home of a Palestinian man who killed two people, including a 3-month-old baby, by smashing his car into a crowded tram stop.

Palestinian leaders accused Israel of an act of war in closing the sacred Temple Mount religious site after a dramatic rooftop ambush of an Arab accused of trying to kill a far-Right Jewish activist provoked rioting.

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.

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.

The Israeli Army is researching a sensor-based system designed to detect tunnels it says are being dug by Palestinian militants trying to infiltrate into Israel from Gaza.

Lana Del Rey has cancelled her first-ever concert in Tel Aviv because of the political unrest between Israeli and Palestinian forces.

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".

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.

Crowds gathered again in Auckland to protest Israel's ground offensive in Gaza.

Crowds gathered in Auckland again today to protest Israel's ground offensive in Gaza.

At least 15 Palestinians have been killed after Israeli tanks shelled a UN-run school in Gaza.

Despite the danger of daily rocket fire, life carries on as normal under the Iron Dome, writes Rhys Davies.

The Palestinian death toll in Gaza rose to 508 last night after 20 bodies were reportedly found in a home blasted in an Israeli airstrike in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The Mana Party will campaign to close down the Israeli Embassy in Wellington, according to spokesman John Minto.

Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed 10 people, medics say, on day 12 of a major operation against the Palestinian territory.