The announcement followed a trip by top US officials to Saudi Arabia last week to advance a possible forging of formal relations between the Muslim powerhouse and Israel.

Opening the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Netanyahu appeared to sidestep the constitutional crisis that has roiled the country for seven months, denting its economy and shaking Western allies’ confidence in its democratic health.

Instead, he promoted infrastructure initiatives including the “One Israel Project”, which he described as designed to reduce travel time by train to the country’s business and government centres to two hours or less.

“I would like to add that in the future we will also be able to transport cargo by rail from Eilat to our Mediterranean, and will also be able to link Israel by train to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian peninsula,” he said in televised remarks.

“On this, too, we are working,” he added.

Meanwhile, a top Israeli lawmaker said that any forging of relations with Saudi Arabia did not appear imminent, citing what he described as sticking points in negotiations currently being held between Riyadh and US mediators.

US President Joe Biden stated on Friday that “there’s a rapprochement maybe under way”.

The idea has been under discussion since the Saudis gave their quiet assent to Persian Gulf neighbours United Arab Emirates and Bahrain establishing ties with Israel in 2020. But Riyadh has not followed suit, saying Palestinian demands must first be met.

“I think it’s too early to talk about a deal being in the works,” Yuli Edelstein, head of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee and a senior member of Netanyahu’s Likud party, told Israel’s Army Radio on Sunday.

He brushed off the possibility that the impasse between Netanyahu’s hard-right government and the statehood goals of the politically divided Palestinians was the main obstacle.

“How shall I put this delicately? There are clauses that are far more important or problematic than such-and-such declarations in the Palestinian realm,” he continued.

“Most of the Saudi discourse is with the Americans, and not with us,” he added, saying that when it came to Riyadh’s demands of Washington, “there are some things we can live with better, and some things we can live with less well”.

Israeli National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, asked by reporters as he entered the weekly cabinet meeting whether there would be progress in the Saudi talks, stressed: “I hope so.”

Saudi Arabia seeks US cooperation in establishing a civilian nuclear programme on its soil. US and Israeli media have also reported Saudi efforts to upgrade US defence imports.

“The facades of the [Moscow] City’s two office towers sustained minor damage. There are no casualties or injuries,” Sobyanin wrote in a short post on his Telegram channel.

The Russian Defense Ministry later released a statement, saying that a total of three drones participated in the raid. According to the MOD, one was destroyed mid-air outside Moscow, while two others were disabled by air defenses, veering off course and crashing “on the territory of a non-residential complex in Moscow City.”

News agency TASS cited emergency services as saying that there was “an explosion” between the fifth and the sixth floor of the 50-story building in the ‘IQ Quarter’ complex, which overall has three high-rise buildings. Local media reported that residents heard a loud blast. The IQ Quarter contains the offices of seven ministries and government agencies, including the ministries of trade, economy, and telecommunications.

A second “explosion” occurred at the OKO II building, which contains offices and shops, officials said. Emergency services told TASS that windows were shattered between the first and the fourth floor. They also said that a security guard has been injured.

The damaged buildings have been evacuated, officials said. The evacuations from other Moscow City buildings are underway.

Unverified video posted to Telegram reportedly shows the moment of the attack.

Police and firefighters have arrived at the scene.

The district, officially called the Moscow International Business Center, comprises skyscrapers with both high-end apartments and office spaces. Among them are the Federation and OKO complexes, which include Europe’s second and third tallest buildings respectively.

Ukraine has stepped up drone attacks on the Russian capital in recent weeks. The UAVs were destroyed or disabled, steering off course, according to the country’s Defense Ministry. Russia views such attacks as acts of terrorism.