Qatar's ruler Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani landed in Saudi Arabia for talks Monday, in his second visit since the countries re-established relations in January following a bitter three-year feud.

Hamas militants fired a large barrage of rockets into Israel on Monday, including one that set off air raid sirens as far away as Jerusalem, after hundreds of Palestinians were hurt in clashes with Israeli police at a flashpoint religious site in the contested holy city.

The early evening attack drastically escalated what already are heightened tensions throughout the region following weeks of confrontations between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in Jerusalem that have threatened to become a wider conflict.

Markets in Yemen's embattled Marib city are bustling with people gearing up for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, despite fighting that has raged nearby between government forces and Huthi rebels.

Journalist Ahmed Hassan, targeted in an assassination attempt Monday in southern Iraq, has undergone brain surgery and remains in critical condition, a Baghdad hospital said.

Iran's foreign ministry Monday for the first time confirmed the Islamic republic is holding talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia, but said it is "too soon" to discuss the results.

Turkey on Monday called Israel an "apartheid state" that must end "heinous and cruel attacks" against Palestinians, as clashes raged at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said hundreds had been wounded in new clashes on Monday that came ahead of a planned march marking Israel's 1967 takeover of the holy city.

Hundreds were wounded in new clashes Monday between Palestinians and Israeli security forces in Jerusalem as a planned march marking Israel's 1967 takeover of the holy city threatened to further inflame tensions.

Egyptian authorities on Sunday executed a Coptic Christian monk convicted over the 2018 killing of the abbot of an ancient desert monastery, the monk's family told AFP.

A fire broke out Sunday on an oil tanker off northwest Syria's Banias refinery due to "technical failure" in one of its engines, state media reported.

"A technical failure in one of the engines of an oil tanker parked off the coast of the city of Banias led to a small fire and the appearance of black smoke," SANA news agency said.

Pope Francis on Sunday called for an end to violence in annexed east Jerusalem, where clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police have left scores of Palestinians injured.

After delivering his Regina Caeli prayer from the window overlooking St Peter's Square, the pope said he was "following with particular concern the events that are happening in Jerusalem."