Israeli troops killed three Palestinians and wounded dozens in a shootout Tuesday during an arrest raid in the city of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

The shootout came a day after a cease-fire ended three days of fighting between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip.

Millions of Shiite Muslims — from Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan — were marking the festival of Ashoura on Monday, one of the most emotional occasions in their religious calendar, commemorating the 7th century martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein.

Security forces, particularly in Taliban-run Afghanistan, were on high alert for any violence. In the past, bloody attacks have marred the festival across in the Middle East, as Sunni extremists who view the Shiites as heretics seize on the holy day to target large gatherings of mourners.

Demonstrators blocked roads as protests broke out in southern Iraq on Monday after power outages left many without electricity during scorching peak summer heat.

Temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), nearly matching last year's record high. Southern provinces, where the heat wave is most intense in Iraq, suspended working hours.

Israel's caretaker prime minister took a gamble with his preemptive strike against Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza, less than three months before he is to compete in general elections to retain his job.

Yair Lapid had counted on Gaza's militant Hamas rulers to stay out of the fight, thus enabling Israel to weaken Hamas' smaller sister group while avoiding a full-blown escalation. At the same time, he may also have gained political ground ahead of the polls.

Shell-shocked Gazans on Monday sifted through the rubble of three days of deadly conflict between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants as a truce held and life slowly returned to normal with power restored.

The sole power plant in the blockaded enclave "started working to generate electricity" after a two-day shutdown, distributor spokesman Mohammed Thabet told AFP, hours after fuel trucks for the plant entered Gaza.

Fuel trucks entered Gaza as an Egypt-brokered truce between Israel and Islamic Jihad militants held Monday, raising hopes that the intense conflict that left dozens of Palestinians dead has ended.

An AFP journalist at the goods crossing to southern Gaza saw trucks loaded with fuel enter the enclave, ending a severe shortage which prompted the only power station there to shut down Saturday.

A cease-fire between Israel and Palestinian militants took effect late Sunday in a bid to end nearly three days of violence that killed dozens of Palestinians and disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis.

Gaza City, Palestinian T

Israel hit Gaza with air strikes on Saturday and a Palestinian militant group retaliated with a barrage of rocket fire, in the territory's worst escalation of violence since a war last year.

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad group said it fired more than 100 rockets at Israel on Friday, as an "initial response" to deadly Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.