Saudi Arabia's crown prince on Tuesday struck a conciliatory tone towards the kingdom's arch-nemesis Iran, saying he sought "good" relations, after sources said the rivals held secret talks in Baghdad.

A U.K. maritime organization is reporting an "incident" off the Saudi port of Yanbu as a private security firm is warning of a possible attack on a ship.

Details were scarce Tuesday on the incident in the Red Sea.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that Israel is committing the crime of "apartheid" by seeking to maintain Jewish "domination" over Palestinians and its own Arab population, an explosive allegation fiercely denounced by Israel. 

Israeli police have allowed Palestinians to gather in a flashpoint plaza outside Jerusalem's walled Old City, in a move apparently aimed at easing tensions after days of clashes.

Slumped in a hospital bed, his face obscured by an oxygen mask in an intensive care unit for coronavirus patients in the Gaza Strip, Hussein al-Hajj said he wanted to talk. 

Sitting by his wife's graveside, Musheer Farhan recalls how she was turned away from three hospitals over fears she had coronavirus, although she was heavily pregnant and suffering from breathing problems.

Israel said Monday it is closing the fishing zone off the already blockaded Gaza Strip, preventing trawlers from going out to sea, after repeated rocket attacks on the Jewish state.

Fresh clashes broke out late Saturday between Palestinians and Israeli police after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for "calm on all sides" after several nights of unrest in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem.

Morocco has summoned the Spanish ambassador in "exasperation" after the leader of the Western Saharan independence movement was allowed into Spain for medical care, an official source told AFP. 

The death of over 80 people in a Baghdad Covid-19 hospital fire was seen by Iraqis Sunday as more proof of the deadly consequences of mismanagement and corruption.