Rights groups on Monday said an Egyptian request for a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) must require Cairo to expand social protection, tackle corruption and ensure judicial independence.

Two fuel ships have entered war-torn Yemen's port of Hodeida, the first shipment in months, the rebels who control the city said Monday, after a U.N.-brokered truce went into effect.

Syrian government forces on Monday shelled a rebel-held village in northwestern Syria, the country's last major opposition stronghold, killing four students on their way to school, opposition activists said.

The shelling targeted the village of Maaret al-Naasan in Idlib province. The province is Syria's last major rebel stronghold and home to more than 3 million people, many of them internally displaced by the civil war that began in 2011.

An outspoken half-brother of Jordan's king has relinquished his princely title in apparent protest over how the country is run. It was the latest chapter in an ongoing palace feud that saw the junior royal placed under house arrest a year ago.

Prince Hamzah posted the announcement on his official Twitter account. He wrote that he was driven to the decision because his convictions cannot be reconciled with the "current approaches, policies and methods of our institutions."

A tanker carrying badly needed fuel arrived in Yemen's blockaded port of Hodeida on Sunday, as a cease-fire meant to stop the fighting in the war-torn country for two months entered its first full day.

The truce agreement, which took effect Saturday evening, allows for shipments of fuel to arrive in Hodeida and for passenger flights to resume from the airport in the capital of Sanaa. Both Hodeida and Sanaa are held by the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

Israeli security forces killed three Islamic Jihad militants when they came under fire Saturday during a raid in the West Bank, Israel said, the latest deaths in a surge of violence.

The bloodshed comes amid heightened tensions ahead of the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, that has seen violence spiral in Israel and the occupied West Bank.

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk -- began at sunrise Saturday in much of the Middle East, where Russia's invasion of Ukraine has sent energy and food prices soaring.

The conflict cast a pall over the holiday, when large gatherings over meals and family celebrations are a tradition. Many in the Southeast Asian nation of Indonesia planned to start observing Sunday and some Shiites in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq were also marking the start of Ramadan a day later.

Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian on Friday during clashes in the flashpoint occupied West Bank city of Hebron, the latest in a surge of violence, the Palestinian health ministry said.

The 29-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed "with live ammunition", the ministry said in a brief statement.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates said Friday they had agreed on the terms of a free trade agreement to boost commercial relations following their normalization of ties.

Israel described as "historic" the deal abolishing customs duties on "95 percent of the products" exchanged between the Jewish state and Gulf Arab country.

Turkey's justice minister said Friday that the government will recommend that an Istanbul court close a trial in absentia against 26 Saudi nationals charged in the slaying of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and transfer the case to Saudi Arabia.

Bekir Bozdag spoke a day after a Turkish prosecutor requested the transfer, in line with a request from the kingdom.