Two Lebanese suspects alleged to be members of Hizbullah and on trial in Nigeria on terrorism charges told a court Monday they were harshly interrogated by Israeli agents after their arrests.

Mustapha Fawaz, Abdallah Thahini and Talal Ahmad Roda were arrested in May after the discovery of an arms cache in a residence in the northern Nigerian city of Kano.

The Israeli government on Sunday added 20 settlements in the West Bank to a list drawn up in 2009 of Jewish communities prioritized for aid.

Hundreds of communities in the occupied Palestinian territory figure on the list for public aid in housing, infrastructure, education, cultural activities and security spending.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at new Iranian President Hassan Rowhani on Sunday, saying that he shared his hardline predecessor's aim of destroying the Jewish state.

"The president of Iran said the day before yesterday (Friday) that Israel is a wound on the body of Islam," Netanyahu's office quoted him as saying at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat says that Israel will free the first batch of a promised 104 long-serving Palestinian and Israeli Arab prisoners on August 13.

"The release of veteran prisoners will be in four batches as Israel refused to release them all at once," he said in a statement.

President Michel Suleiman has reportedly admonished Hizbullah for failing to coordinate with any party inside Lebanon before sending its members to Syria to support troops loyal to the Assad regime against the rebels.

“What happened is that the resistance went to Syria without coordinating with anyone,” officials, who have visited Suleiman, quoted him as saying.

The next round of direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will take place in the region during the second week of August, Israel's negotiator Tzipi Livni, who is also justice minister, said Saturday.

"These discussions that began in Washington will resume during the second week of August and will take place in the region," Livni told the private Channel 10 television station.

Iran held massive anti-Israel rallies Friday, with president-elect Hassan Rowhani calling the arch-foe Jewish state a "wound" on the Muslim world, drawing a sharp response from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"In our region, a wound has for many years been sitting on the body of the Islamic world in the shadow of occupation of the holy land of Palestine and the dear Quds (Jerusalem)," Rowhani said in remarks broadcast on state television.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he hoped for progress in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program after Hassan Rowhani assumes the presidency on Saturday.

Westerwelle told German news agency DPA on Friday that Rowhani's inauguration offered an "opportunity" to clear the impasse but that "deeds not words" were what counted.

Iran's outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned arch-foe Israel Friday in one of his last public speeches that a regional storm was brewing that would "uproot" the Jewish state.

"I will inform you with God as my witness, a devastating storm is on the way that will uproot the basis of Zionism," Ahmadinejad said in Quds (Jerusalem) Day remarks broadcast on state television.

An Israeli army general has expressed concern over the growing threat of Hizbullah, which he said has improved its fighting capabilities and has become “more cautious.”

“With regard to the situation seven years ago, Hizbullah is better armed, better trained and more cautious,” Maj. Gen. Yair Golan, head of the Israel's Northern Command that borders Lebanon and Syria, said, according to the Israeli army website.