International jitters has been caused by a report by The Sunday Times of London that Israel plans to deploy its German-built submarines, reputedly armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, off Iran.

There are concerns, particularly among Middle Eastern governments, that the Jewish state is being pushed into a corner because of its growing international isolation over its treatment of the Palestinians and the actions of its right-wing government.

It has been reported that the global outcry over the death of at least nine people on Monday in a predawn attack by Israeli naval forces in the eastern Mediterranean on a Turkish-led flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, under economic blockade by Israel since 2006, dramatically underscored Israel's alienation.

Growing international pressure on Israel to come clean on the nuclear arsenal it has reputedly built up since the 1960s, at a time when it is so determined to prevent Iran acquiring such weapons, has only heightened Israelis' sense of alienation.

Despite U. S. pressure, Israel has threatened it will unleash unilateral pre-emptive strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.

According to the reports, Israel's deadly action in international waters on Monday, branded as piracy by an outraged Turkey, once Israel's most important regional ally, is sure to deepen the rift between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's hawkish government and the U. S. administration of President Barack Obama.

The most serious between the two longtime allies in over two decades, that dispute stemmed from Netanyahu's rejection of Obama's proposal Israel freeze all settlement activity in the West Bank to allow peace negotiations to get going again.

It was also reported that Middle East observers speculated that Israel's actions in the Mediterranean on Monday were, in part at least, a reaction to its isolation and the belief that it must be prepared to act unilaterally in the interests of its own security and ignore international opprobrium. (With Inputs from Agencies)