Israeli police clashed Friday with Muslim worshippers at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, the Palestinian Red Crescent said, adding that two people had been wounded. 

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday called Israel "not a country, but a terrorist base" during a speech on Al-Quds Day, an annual show of solidarity with the Palestinians.

Thousands massed for rallies across several Muslim-majority countries including Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan for the day, seen in Israel as an expression of hatred and anti-Semitism.

Saudi Arabia said Friday that employees will only be allowed to return to their workplace in person once vaccinated against Covid-19.

Two Palestinians were killed and a third critically wounded Friday after they opened fire on an Israeli base in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli border police said.

Fifteen Palestinians were arrested in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem overnight in clashes with police over an eviction threat against four Palestinian families.

France, Germany, Italy, the United States and Britain urged Libya Thursday to start preparations to meet a December deadline for holding elections, which it is hoped will help the country exit a decade of crisis.

Israel's opposition leader Yair Lapid received a mandate to form a government Wednesday, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failed effort following the nation's fourth inconclusive vote in less than two years. 

President Reuven Rivlin made the announcement after consultations with party leaders to determine if any lawmaker had a path to clinch a coalition and end an unprecedented era of political gridlock. 

Israel's president on Wednesday signaled he would move quickly to task a new candidate with forming a government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to do so ahead of a midnight deadline.

President Reuven Rivlin will meet with the two main candidates for forming a government — opposition leader Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu ally — on Wednesday morning. He asked parties to make their positions known before 2 p.m. (1100 GMT).

Turkey and Egypt have begun slowly warming ties as they vie for regional primacy a decade after the Arab Spring, but analysts say deep-seated mistrust means full normalisation will take time.

One civilian was killed and six wounded after a rare Israeli air raid on a northeastern Syrian region home to the longtime ruling Assad family, Syria's state media said Wednesday.