Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said he has accepted an apology from Russian President Vladimir Putin for controversial remarks about the Holocaust made by Moscow's top diplomat.

The two leaders talked over the phone, after which an Israeli statement said Putin had apologized. However, the Russian statement about the call made no mention of an apology. Instead, it said they emphasized the importance of marking the Nazi defeat in World War II, which Russia celebrates on Monday.

Israeli forces launched a manhunt Friday for attackers who killed three people in the central city of Elad as the country marked the anniversary of its founding, in the latest incident of deadly violence.

The search -- backed by a large deployment of security personnel, helicopters, drones and roadblocks -- was seeking what police described as "one or two terrorists", who remained at large hours after the attack. 

Israel's Supreme Court has upheld a long-standing expulsion order against eight Palestinian hamlets in the occupied West Bank, potentially leaving at least 1,000 people homeless, an Israeli rights group representing the villagers said Thursday.

The verdict, issued late Wednesday as Israel largely shut down for its Independence Day, marks the end of a more than two-decade legal struggle by Palestinians in the Masafer Yatta region of the southern West Bank to maintain communities they say go back decades.

More than 1,000 Iraqis were rushed to hospital with respiratory ailments on Thursday due to a sandstorm, the seventh to hit the country in the past month, state media said.

Residents of six of Iraq's 18 provinces, including Baghdad and the vast western region of Al-Anbar, awoke once again to a thick cloud of dust blanketing the sky.

If, during your travels in the Holy Land, you decide to take the next step with your Palestinian sweetheart, you should notify the Israeli military within 30 days.

That's what it says on page 30 of a new 97-page policy released by COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of civilian affairs in the occupied West Bank. The policy, set to take effect later this year, specifies that the "start of the relationship" is the engagement, the wedding or when you move in together.

Due to high prices, Mona Abubakr, an Egyptian housewife this year made smaller quantities of Eid al-Fitr sweet treats.

The mother of three has also tweaked another tradition this Eid, which began Monday in Egypt and many countries and marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. She bought fewer outfits for her sons to wear during the three-day feast.

Israeli police entered a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem to clear away Palestinian protesters on Thursday, after Jewish visits that had been paused for the Muslim holidays resumed.

Recent weeks have seen several rounds of clashes at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site for Muslims, which is built on a hilltop that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount. It lies at the emotional heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Six rockets landed overnight in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said, with "minor damage" reported at a key oil refinery, according to a separate security source.

Israel has summoned the Russian ambassador over comments made by the Russian foreign minister about Nazism and antisemitism.

In an interview with an Italian news channel, Sergey Lavrov explained that Ukraine could still have Nazi elements even if some figures, including the country’s president, were Jewish.

Suspected Islamic State militants have blown up a natural gas pipeline in Egypt's restive northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, causing a fire but no casualties, security officials said.

The officials said the suspected militants planted explosives under a pipeline in the town of Bir al-Abd.