The Israeli army staged patrols alongside the border with Lebanon on Monday as a reconnaissance aircraft flew over the occupied Shebaa Farms.

Israel reportedly erected a defensive barrier and sonar array off the Ras al-Naqoura border area, in south Lebanon, to prevent Hizbullah divers from infiltrating northern Israel.

Media reports said Israel has obtained information that Hizbullah is investing a large sum of money to acquire undersea weapons and delivery systems to carry out attacks against the Jewish state.

Hamas on Sunday prevented dozens of children orphaned during its 50-day war with Israel from entering Israeli territory in a pre-arranged trip, organizers and officials said.

The week-long visit was planned for 37 children whose parents were killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip in July and August this year. It was organised by an Israeli kibbutz group and local Arab-Israeli officials.

Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun have resolved their dispute over the oil file, reported the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat on Saturday.

It said that the two sides agreed to issue contracts over the oil fields adjacent to the Israeli blocks after the speaker had warned that the neighboring state could exploit Lebanon's offshore wealth.

Hizbullah has detained a senior party official it accused of spying for Israel and "sabotaging security operations" abroad, a source close to the movement said on Thursday.

"Three months ago, Hizbullah's security apparatus detained a man named Mohammad Shawraba, who is a collaborator in its ranks," said the source, who spoke to Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli man and his 11-year-old daughter were wounded Thursday when assailants threw a firebomb at their vehicle in the northern West Bank, the army said.

A military spokeswoman told AFP the assailants, believed to be Palestinians, threw a Molotov cocktail at the car near the Maale Shomron settlement. 

Israeli authorities gave final approval on Wednesday to the construction of 380 new settler homes in two areas of annexed east Jerusalem, a local official said.

"The municipal commission has given construction permits for 307 homes in Ramot and 73 in Har Homa," Yosef Pepe Alalu, a Jerusalem city councilor with the opposition Meretz party, told AFP.

Pilgrims from across the world descended on Jesus's birthplace in Bethlehem Wednesday to begin the global celebration of Christmas after a violence-plagued year brought suffering to many Middle Eastern Christians.

The not-so-little West Bank town was bustling with activity ahead of the biggest night of the year which will culminate in midnight mass at the Nativity Church built over the spot where Mary gave birth to Jesus.

Israel launched an air strike in southern Gaza on Wednesday and killed a Hamas militant after a sniper attack on a patrol seriously wounded a soldier, the army and medics said.

It was only the second time Israel had struck Gaza since a 50-day war ended with a truce on August 26, after witnesses reported a first strike early on Saturday.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas warned on Tuesday that his administration would "no longer deal" with Israel if a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a final peace deal fails.

"If the Arab-Palestinian initiative submitted to the Security Council to put an end to (Israeli) occupation doesn't pass, we will be forced to take the necessary political and legal decisions," Abbas was quoted as saying by the Algerian APS news agency.