Lebanon came in 14th place as a country most affected by terrorism in a list of 162 nations, according to a new global study.

The London-based Institute for Economics and Peace said Lebanon got a score of 6.4 and joined 8 other countries that saw increased terrorist attacks in 2013 when compared to 2012.

With soldiers firing warning shots to herald the nightly curfew and jihadist militants beheading informants, Sinai's residents find themselves caught in the middle of Egypt's "war on terror".

The Sinai Peninsula has become a hotbed of Islamist militancy after decades of neglect under former president Hosni Mubarak, and amid a security vacuum triggered by the army's ouster last year of his successor Mohamed Morsi.

The European Union said Monday it deplored Israeli plans to build new settlements on occupied Palestinian territory but denied outright that it planned sanctions against Israel as a result.

There was "no plan of this type," new EU foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini said when asked about an Israeli press report on the issue.

Israel has blocked Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering the country and thereby accessing the Gaza Strip, but denied Monday it had imposed a lifelong ban on the outspoken medic. 

"He has been banned from entering Israel," foreign ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson told Agence France Presse, categorically denying reports Gilbert had been blocked from entering Gaza.

Abu Mahmoud was given just eight hours to leave his home on the Egyptian side of the divided Gaza border town of Rafah before authorities began demolishing it to create a buffer zone.

Not only are he and others displaced like him angry, they also say they are often abused and branded traitors and "terrorists" because they come from the lawless frontier in north Sinai.

Israel has blocked Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering the country and thereby accessing the Gaza Strip, but denied Monday it had imposed a lifelong ban on the outspoken medic.

"He has been banned from entering Israel," foreign ministry spokesman Paul Hirschson told Agence France Presse, categorically denying reports the doctor had been blocked from entering Gaza.

An Israeli man was stabbed in the back in annexed east Jerusalem on Sunday in what police said they believed was an attack by a Palestinian motivated by nationalism.

Israel's emergency services said the incident took place near Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the Old City from east Jerusalem, with the victim taken to hospital in a stable condition after being stabbed by a screwdriver.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support Sunday for the U.S. fight against Islamic State militants, but cautioned against any softening toward Iran.

"We want them both to lose. The last thing we want is to have any one of them get weapons of mass destruction," Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS Face the Nation.

A shepherd was injured on Sunday when a suspicious item exploded in the southern town of Kharayeb, the state-run National News Agency reported.

The NNA said that the shepherd sustained injuries after the suspicious item exploded. He was admitted to Jabal Amel Hospital for treatment.

Israel will never agree to limit its construction activity in annexed east Jerusalem, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said on Sunday.

"One thing should be clear: we will never accept the definition of building in Jewish neighbourhoods of Jerusalem as settlement activity," he said at a news conference with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier.