The military wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas said on Monday that it masterminded what Israel called a "terror tunnel" from Gaza into the Jewish state, meant to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

"This tunnel was made by the hand of the fighters of (Izzadine) al-Qassam and they will not sleep in their efforts to hit the occupation and kidnap soldiers," the group's spokesman Abu Obeida told Hamas' al-Aqsa radio.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not be meeting with Pope Francis in three days, a diplomatic source said Sunday, after the premier's office had previously said they would.

A statement from Netanyahu's office had said the premier would be "meeting Pope Francis next Wednesday at the Vatican" and with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for updates on nuclear talks with Iran and negotiations with the Palestinians in Rome.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday world pressure on Iran must be maintained, as an Israeli delegation traveled to Washington to be briefed on talks on Iran's nuclear program.

Israel has been alarmed by the mounting emphasis on diplomacy with the new Iranian government of President Hassan Rouhani to allay concerns about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, fearing that Western governments may ease crippling sanctions before securing any real policy change.

Palestinians in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said they received phone calls on Friday from the Israeli army accusing the Islamist movement of failing to provide for civilians.

"To the residents of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army warns you against obeying the orders of the terrorist Hamas or having any contact with it," the recipient of one such pre-recorded message quoted it to Agence France Presse as saying.

An uptick in violence in the West Bank is cause for concern but not part of an orchestrated Palestinian campaign, Israeli media said on Friday.

A series of incidents, the latest of which saw Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian who forced his way into an army base on Thursday, have killed and injured several Israelis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged Israel Friday to show "restraint" in the building of Jewish settlements, after talks with the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

"We call on Israel to show restraint in the matter of settlement building," Merkel told a joint press conference with Abbas in Berlin.

Most Israelis support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on the Iran nuclear issue after the Islamic republic met world powers in Geneva this week, an opinion poll showed on Friday.

Some 58 percent of respondents to the question "how would you rate Netanyahu's recent performance in the global arena vis-a-vis Iran?" said it was good (41 percent) or very good (17 percent), said the poll published in Haaretz newspaper.

Israeli eagles dangerously endangered by pesticides, electrical wires and poachers now apparently face a new threat: Hizbullah fighters.

Hizbullah's Al-Manar website recently boasted of capturing an eagle that carried an Israel-labeled transmission device on its back and claimed the bird was an Israeli spy. It said hunters in central Lebanon shot down the bird and found devices on it as well as a copper ring on its leg that reads "Israel" in English followed by letters that refer to Tel Aviv University. The fate of the eagle remains unclear.

Indefatigable U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is travelling back to Europe next week for talks on the war in Syria as well as the Middle East peace process, officials said Thursday.

The top U.S. diplomat, who only arrived back from a grueling two-week tour late Monday, will hit the road again for his 16th trip since he took office in February, heading to talks in Paris, London and Rome from Monday October 21 to Thursday.

Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who forced his way into a West Bank army base on Thursday, the military and Palestinian security officials said.

An army spokeswoman said he was shot when he crashed a tractor through the perimeter fence of the camp. The Palestinians said he died of his wounds in an Israeli hospital, and named him as Yusef Ahmed al-Radaydeh, 30.