An explosion tore through a house in a popular market in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing one person and wounding 10, the Palestinian territory's interior ministry said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility early Tuesday for a suicide bombing that ripped through a busy market in the Iraqi capital ahead of Eid holiday celebrations, killing nearly 30 people, according to medical sources. 

Syrian air defenses shot down Israeli missile over the northern province of Aleppo on Monday, state media reported, in an attack that a war monitor said targeted positions of pro-regime groups.

Muslim pilgrims gathered at Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Monday in the high point of this year's hajj, being held in downsized form and under coronavirus restrictions for the second year running.

An Israeli firm accused of supplying spyware to governments has been linked to a list of tens of thousands of smartphone numbers, including those of activists, journalists, business executives and politicians around the world, according to reports.

Although they are bitter rivals on many issues, North African neighbors Morocco and Algeria appear to have one thing in common: muzzling the press.

Hajj pilgrims streamed out of the holy city of Mecca Sunday, launching the rituals of the great pilgrimage which Saudi Arabia is holding in a scaled-down form for a second year to ward off coronavirus.

A U.S. drone attack targeted a truck for an Iran-backed militia in eastern Syria on Sunday, destroying the vehicle without causing any casualties, two Iraqi militia officials said.

The attack came amid increasing tensions in the region between the U.S. military and Iran-backed Iraqi militias in recent weeks. The Americans have targeted militants who used drones and rockets to hit bases housing U.S. troops.

President Bashar al-Assad took the oath of office for a fourth term in war-ravaged Syria Saturday, after taking 95 percent of the vote in a controversial election dismissed abroad.

Ankara said Thursday it had uncovered a mass grave containing dozens of bodies in a Turkish-held region of Syria, accusing a US-backed Kurdish militia of the killings. 

But local authorities in the northern region of Afrin and a Syrian rights group said it was an informal cemetery and not a mass grave, disputing Turkey's accusations.