Qatar and Egypt signed several memoranda of understanding Wednesday, official media said, as President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi makes his first visit to the Gulf country since the nations healed a diplomatic rift.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and Sisi "witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Qatar Investment Authority and the Sovereign Fund of Egypt for investment and development", the emir's office said on its official website.

Jordanian rescue teams kept searching Wednesday for 10 people still missing under the rubble of a collapsed four-storey building in Amman, where five bodies were recovered the day before.

Anxious relatives waited at the disaster site in downtown Amman where emergency services were racing against the clock to dig any survivors from the debris of the residential building. 

Palestinian gunmen opened fire on Israeli troops near a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank Wednesday, killing an Israeli army officer, the Israeli military said. Palestinian officials said that troops killed the gunmen.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said that two Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army, without providing additional details.

Egypt's president traveled on Tuesday to Qatar on his first visit to the gas-rich nation amid warming ties after years of frayed relations following the Egyptian military's overthrow of an Islamist president backed by Doha.

The two-day trip comes amid a rapid rapprochement between Egypt and Qatar after the end in 2021 of a yearslong boycott of Doha by four Arab states, including Egypt. Qatar's state-run news agency said Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was to hold talks with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Saudi police arrested a Yemeni man this week after he advertised on social media his pilgrimage to Mecca, where he paid tribute to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II.

The pilgrim, who was not identified by name, had posted footage earlier this week that showed him holding a banner honoring the late queen from inside the courtyard of Mecca's Grand Mosque.

The Middle East is heating at nearly twice the global average, threatening potentially devastating impacts on its people and economies, a new climate study shows.

The World Health Organization warned Tuesday of a "very high" risk of cholera spreading across Syria after the country recorded its first cases since 2009.

Israel's ambassador to Morocco, who was recalled last week amid an investigation that media linked to alleged sexual misconduct, has dismissed the accusations against him as "a smear campaign."

An international human rights group called Monday on the United Nations to ensure that countries hosting its climate conference commit to meeting human rights standards after it documented instances of repression against environmental groups in Egypt, the host of COP27 later this year.

Human Rights Watch said in a report based on interviews with more than a dozen academics, scientists and activists that government restrictions amount to a violation of basic human rights and throw into question the Egyptian government's ability to meet basic climate commitments.

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid visited Germany Monday in his latest diplomatic effort to persuade Western powers to ditch the agreement with Israel’s arch nemesis Tehran.

Israel has long opposed a revival of the 2015 accord, which has been moribund since then U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 and reimposed biting sanctions on Tehran.