Syria denied on Wednesday it is holding U.S. journalist Austin Tice or other Americans after President Joe Biden accused the Syrian government of detaining him.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Damascus "denies it had kidnapped or is holding any American citizen on its territories."

A Palestinian human rights group and an Israeli newspaper have reported that an explosion in a cemetery that killed five Palestinian children during the latest flare-up in Gaza was caused by an Israeli airstrike and not an errant Palestinian rocket.

It was one of a number of blasts during the fighting that did not bear the tell-tale signs of an Israeli F-16 or drone strike, and which the Israeli military said might have been caused by rockets misfired by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has expressed no regret for the deadly attack by Palestinian militants on Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics a half century ago, countering that Israel had committed "50 Holocausts" against Palestinians over the years.

Eleven Israeli athletes and a German police officer died after members of the Palestinian militant group Black September took hostages at the Olympic Village on Sept. 5, 1972. At the time of the attack, the group was linked to Abbas' Fatah party.

Iraq's finance minister resigned Tuesday, two government officials said, over the country's worst political crisis in years involving an influential Shiite cleric and his Iran-aligned rivals.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, said Finance Minister Ali Allawi resigned during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday to protest the political conditions. They said Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul-Jabbar will become acting finance minister.

Authorities in western Libya said they have rounded up dozens of migrants in the capital of Tripoli, in the latest crackdown on migrants in the conflict-ridden country.

Security forces raided migrant dwellings in Tripoli's Airport Road area and detained "many" migrants, according to a police statement.

The lawyer for a Palestinian prisoner said Tuesday that his client will appeal his case to Israel's Supreme Court as he continues what his family says is a 165-day hunger strike against his detention.

Also Tuesday, an Israeli military court extended the sentence for a second Palestinian prisoner by six days.

Egypt has been in mourning over a blaze at a Coptic Orthodox church that killed 41 people, but many also raised questions about the emergency response, fire safety codes, and restrictions on building houses of worship for the country's Christian minority.

Neighborhood residents expressed shock over the fire Sunday, one of Egypt's deadliest in recent years, that killed 41 members of the congregation, including at least 15 children.

The top U.N. envoy for Yemen has said he is intensifying efforts to achieve an expanded truce between the warring parties that would hopefully lead to the start of talks on a ceasefire and preparations for resuming a Yemeni-led political process.

Hans Grundberg told the U.N. Security Council that the agreement by the internationally recognized government and Houthi rebels Aug. 2 to a two-month extension of the truce continues the longest pause in fighting since Yemen's civil war began in 2014. The truce began April 2.

An attack with drones hit a compound run by American troops and U.S.-backed Syrian opposition fighters in eastern Syria on Monday, the U.S. military said, adding that there were no casualties or damage.

The military said the attack took place in the vicinity of al-Tanf base near where the borders of Syria, Jordan and Iraq meet. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

The Foreign Ministry denounced Monday the latest Israeli attack on the coastal region of Syria.

It condemned the Israeli violation of Lebanon's airspace to fire missiles on the neighboring war-torn country.