Taiwan's high-profile Deputy Foreign Minister Francois Wu made a previously unpublicised visit to Israel recently, three sources familiar with the trip told Reuters, at a time when Taiwan is looking to the country for defence cooperation.

Israel has given the go-ahead for the construction of 764 more houses in three Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, a decision likely to further stoke tensions as a watchdog group accused the Israeli government of moving toward "de facto annexation" of the Palestinian territory.