The so-called Quartet of Middle East mediators has urged Israel and the Palestinians to address an array of challenges — ongoing violence in the West Bank, the advancement of new settlement units in Palestinian territories, and "the untenable fiscal crisis within the Palestinian Authority."

A statement following an in-person meeting of Quartet envoys from the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia in Norway's capital, Oslo, welcomed steps announced by Israel "to reach out to the Palestinian Authority and to assist with the fiscal crisis."

A video has emerged showing an Israeli soldier lining up school-aged Palestinian children and photographing them in a nighttime raid on their home. The video shines a light on the military's tactics in the occupied West Bank, which activists say violate Palestinian rights.

The video was released Wednesday by the Israeli rights group B'tselem and shows soldiers in a Palestinian home after dark. The Palestinian adults are seen gathering up the children from the home — some of them appearing to have been roused from sleep — and ushering them onto a balcony. A girl is seen crying, and a woman comforts her by saying "it's just routine."

Israel has charged a domestic worker employed by the country's defense minister with espionage for allegedly offering to use his proximity to the minister to relay information to Iran, Israel's domestic security agency Shin Bet said Thursday.

The man, identified as Omri Goren, worked at Defense Minister Benny Gantz' home as a cleaner and caretaker. The Shin Bet said he initiated contact with an unnamed "Iranian entity" though social media, sending photos of different items around the house including pictures of the minister's computer.

More than 400 Iraqis sought to fly home from Belarus on Thursday, abandoning their hopes of reaching the European Union following more than a week of tensions at the bloc's eastern border where hundreds of migrants remain stuck.

A plane carrying an unknown number is expected to depart from Minsk in the early afternoon and make two stops — one in the city of Erbil and another in the capital, Baghdad. A total of 430 Iraqis have registered for flights home, and most of those were already at the airport, according to Iraq's consul in Russia Majid al-Kilani.

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, arrived in Cairo on Thursday for the first time in 15 years, hoping to promote tolerance and cement bilateral ties. The visit is part of the royal couple's first tour since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

It is also their first visit to Egypt since the country was rocked by a popular uprising in 2011 that was followed by years of political turmoil.

An Israeli couple held by Turkey on suspicion of espionage returned home on Thursday after they were released from a weeklong detention.

Mordi and Natalie Oknin arrived to their home in central Israel where they were greeted by family and a crowd of reporters. From her apartment's balcony, Natalie thanked all those involved in securing their release.

Libya's influential speaker of parliament announced late Wednesday that he will be running for president, making him the latest candidate to join the race for the country's highest office after years of civil war.

Aguila Saleh, 77, who has led the country's House of Representatives since 2014, announced his candidacy in a video statement. The elections are supposed to be held Dec. 24, but face growing uncertainty after two controversial candidates declared they are running. In the past week, a son of the country's late dictator Moammar Gadhafi and powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter have submitted their bids to run.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, fell well short Tuesday of its target to plug a $100-million gap this year and secure full long-term funding despite fresh pledges from donors.

UNRWA warned it was facing an "existential" threat as it urged the international community to commit to more stable financing at a conference in Brussels, insisting it needs to find $800 million a year going forward. 

Syria's state-run media said Israel carried out an attack on the country's south early Wednesday with two missiles targeting an empty house and causing no casualties

The missiles came from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and aimed at the building south of the capital Damascus, the state-run news agency SANA said. It said Syria's defense systems intercepted one of the incoming missiles. The attack caused no losses, the agency said.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz will visit Morocco later this month and sign an agreement with his counterpart on enhancing security cooperation, his office said Tuesday.

Morocco was one of four Arab countries that agreed to normalize ties with Israel last year under the so-called Abraham Accords brokered by the Trump administration, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.