A gunman on a motorcycle opened fire in a city in central Israel late Tuesday, methodically gunning down victims as he killed at least five people in the third such street attack in a week. The shooter was killed by police.

Israeli media said the attacker was a Palestinian from the West Bank, the third Arab assailant to launch an attack ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The previous two attacks, carried out by Arab citizens of Israel inspired by the Islamic State extremist group, have raised concerns of further violence.

Iran offered its support on Tuesday for a ceasefire plan put forward by rebels it backs in Yemen's war, saying it could be an "appropriate platform" for ending the conflict.

The Huthi rebels on Saturday announced the proposal and offered peace talks on condition Saudi Arabia stops its air strikes and blockade of Yemen and removes "foreign forces".

Clashes between U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters and members of the Islamic State group killed at least three people inside a restive camp in northeastern Syria that houses IS families, local Kurdish authorities and an opposition war monitor said Tuesday.

The clashes broke out late Monday night at al-Hol in Syria's province of Hassakeh, when Kurdish fighters exchanged fire with an IS sleeper cell, according to Shixmus Ehmed, head of the Kurdish-led administration's department for refugees and displaced. He spoke to The Associated Press via voice messages Tuesday.

Israeli security services raided the homes of at least 12 Arab citizens and arrested two suspected of having ties to the Islamic State group in a crackdown sparked by recent deadly attacks, authorities said Tuesday.

Hours before the raid, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said the recent assaults inside Israel, which killed six people, marked a "new situation" that required stepped-up security measures.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was visiting Morocco Tuesday to discuss recent shifts in the diplomatic dynamic in the Middle East and North Africa that could upend some of the region's long-standing disputes.

A day after an unprecedented gathering in Israel's Negev Desert with the Israeli foreign minister and their counterparts from four Arab nations that have normalized relations with Israel, Blinken was holding talks with senior Moroccan officials to look at opportunities for expanding those ties.

Egypt's foreign minister has held talks with his Qatari counterpart that focused on improved ties between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry met with Qatar's Foreign Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Cairo.

Gulf Arab states were to gather for a summit Tuesday about the yearslong war in Yemen, which the country's Houthi rebels are boycotting because it's taking place in Saudi Arabia, their adversary in the conflict.

The decision by the Iran-backed Houthis to skip the summit, called by the Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council, immediately called into question the effectiveness of such a gathering.

Within days of the Russian invasion, Western countries invoked international law, imposed crippling sanctions, began welcoming refugees with open arms and cheered on Ukraine's armed resistance.

The response has elicited outrage across the Middle East, where many see a glaring double standard in how the West responds to international conflicts.

Jordan's King Abdullah II met Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah on Monday, in his first trip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 2017, Abbas's office said. 

Abdullah's visit came as foreign ministers from four Arab countries and the U.S. wrapped up a meeting which host Israel hailed as "historic", following a series of normalization agreements last year which angered the Palestinians.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the top diplomats of Israel and four Arab states wrapped up a landmark meeting Monday vowing to boost cooperation, which Israel said would send a strong message to its arch foe Iran. 

The talks brought together for the first time on Israeli soil the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco -- which all normalized ties with the Jewish state in 2020 -- and of Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979.