A commander of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad killed in Syria in what the group described as an assassination by Israeli agents has been buried at a Palestinian refugee camp in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

His wife, speaking at the funeral, said the killers of 31-year-old Ali Ramzi al-Aswad used silencers. She said he had left their second-floor apartment in a Damascus suburb on Sunday morning, as he regularly did, and within less than a minute, she heard a crackling noise coming from the outside.

Saudi Arabia has freed a 72-year-old American citizen it had imprisoned for more than a year over old tweets critical of the kingdom's crown prince, his son said.

Neither Saudi nor U.S. officials immediately confirmed the release of Saad Almadi, a dual U.S.-Saudi citizen and, until his imprisonment in Saudi Arabia, a longtime retiree in Florida. There had been word since last week of progress toward Almadi's release.

Yemen's Huthi rebels and the internationally recognized government have reached a prisoner swap deal during negotiations in Switzerland, the militants said Monday.

"An agreement has been reached to implement a (prisoner) swap" that will see more than 880 people released in total, said Abdul Qader al-Murtada, the leading Huthi delegate to the Geneva talks, according to the rebels' Al-Masirah TV channel.

A firebrand Israeli minister claimed there's "no such thing" as a Palestinian people as Israel's new coalition government, its most hard-line ever, plowed ahead on Monday with a part of its plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition said it was pushing a key part of the overhaul — which would give the coalition control over who becomes a justice or a judge — before the parliament takes a monthlong holiday break next week.

A firebrand Israeli minister claimed there's "no such thing" as a Palestinian people as Israel's new coalition government, its most hard-line ever, plowed ahead on Monday with a part of its plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition said it was pushing a key part of the overhaul — which would give the coalition control over who becomes a justice or a judge — before the parliament takes a monthlong holiday break next week.

President Joe Biden has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to express "concern" over his government's planned overhaul of the country's judicial system that has sparked widespread protests across Israel and to encourage compromise.

The White House said Biden reiterated U.S. concerns about the measure to roll back the judiciary's insulation from the country's political system, in a call a senior administration official described as "candid and constructive." There was no immediate indication that Netanyahu was shying away from the action, after rejecting a compromise last week offered by the country's figurehead president.

A shooting in the northern West Bank town of Huwara on Sunday seriously wounded an Israeli, the army and rescuers said, as Israeli and Palestinian officials in Egypt agreed to "restore calm".

The attack in Huwara came three weeks after the fatal shooting of two Israeli settlers, also in the same occupied West Bank town, adding to a surge in violence this year and to fears of escalation during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan starting in the coming week.

Syrian President Bashar Assad arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, his first visit to the wealthy Gulf country since the devastating earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria last month.

Assad, who arrived with his wife, Asma, and a delegation of Syrian officials, was received by UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a statement from Assad's office.

Israeli and Palestinian officials were meeting Sunday in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh in a bid to ease tensions between the sides and rein in a spiral of violence ahead of a sensitive holiday period beginning this week.

The meeting was the second attempt by the sides, shepherded by regional allies Egypt and Jordan as well as the U.S., to end a year-long spasm of violence that has seen more than 200 Palestinians killed by Israeli fire and more than 40 Israelis or foreigners killed in Palestinian attacks.

China's shock success at bringing Saudi Arabia and Iran together has challenged the United States' longstanding role as the key outside power broker in the Middle East.

Beijing's persuading archrivals Riyadh and Tehran to reestablish diplomatic relations upstaged the United States just as Washington appears powerless to intervene in the political tensions in Israel over the Netanyahu government's sharp-right turn, which has inflamed Palestinians.