Israeli Ethiopian Jews scuffled with police in Tel Aviv on Wednesday during an unauthorized protest but there were no serious incidents despite police warnings that violence was planned.

An AFP journalist at the scene, a busy city-center junction, said around 200 protesters against alleged institutionalized racism took part alongside a heavy police presence and some tried to block roads but were pushed back.

Canada's foreign minister on Wednesday reaffirmed his country's ironclad support for Israel and said the realities of the Middle East left the Jewish state no choice but to defend itself.

Meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his first visit to Israel, Rob Nicholson's comments were welcomed at a time of growing pressure on Netanyahu and his rightwing government to curb West Bank settlement and renew talks with the Palestinians.

Israel has lodged a formal protest with Bern over Swiss funding for an exhibit by an Israeli NGO critical of the army's conduct in the Palestinian territories, officials said Wednesday. 

The exhibit, which will open in Zurich later this week, is being staged by Breaking the Silence, a rights group whose members are veteran combatants who testify about the abuses they have seen or taken part in during their military service in the occupied Palestinian territories.

A Palestinian farmer was wounded on Wednesday after being shot by Israeli troops near the border in southern Gaza, health officials said.

The 22-year-old man was in a moderate condition after being shot in the stomach as he farmed land near the border in an area east of Khan Yunis, Gaza health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

An Israeli soldier who was jailed earlier this week for eating a non-kosher sandwich has been freed after the army agreed to release him following a wave of public pressure.

The soldier, who recently immigrated to Israel from America, was initially jailed for 11 days after eating a sandwich containing pork, which is forbidden by Jewish dietary law, public radio reported.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that Israel risks losing "credibility" over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stance on the creation of a Palestinian state.

Obama made the comments to an Israeli television station in response to a question about Netanyahu's comments regarding the establishment of a Palestinian state before and after March elections.

Israel on Tuesday denounced as "outrageous" a UN decision to recognize a London-based Palestinian non-governmental organisation it says is affiliated with the militant Islamist Hamas movement.

In a decision late on Monday, the UN committee on non-governmental organisations voted in favor of recognizing the Palestinian Return Center (PRC) as a permanent NGO with access to the world body's many forums.

U.S. President Barack Obama said a negotiated deal and not military action is the way to prevent Iran procuring nuclear weapons, in an interview broadcast on Israeli television on Monday.

"I can, I think, demonstrate, not based on any hope but on facts and evidence and analysis, that the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a verifiable tough agreement," he told 2, a private station.

The impoverished Gaza Strip is a "powder keg" at risk of exploding, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday during a visit to the war-torn territory.

The German minister, who arrived in the region on Saturday and held talks with top Israeli and Palestinian officials, called for efforts to rebuild the shattered enclave which was ravaged by a 50-day war last summer, the third in six years.

A Lebanese shepherd escaped on Monday from an abduction attempt by Israeli troops in southern in Lebanon, reported the National News Agency.

It said that Mohammed Zahra escaped the Israeli troops who had crossed about 50 meters into Lebanese territory in the area of al-Shahel west of Shebaa.