The U.N. Security Council voted Thursday to lift a series of sanctions on Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa and members of his government days before he is set to arrive in the U.S. for a historic visit to the White House.

The U.S. resolution to drop U.N. sanctions tied to al-Sharaa and Syria's interior minister, Anas Hasan Khattab, stemming from their ties to the al-Qaida militant group, was adopted with 14 members in support. China abstained from the vote.

Kazakhstan is set to join the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab and Muslim majority countries in a symbolic move aimed at boosting the initiative that was a hallmark of President Donald Trump's first administration.

The action, announced Thursday, is largely symbolic as Kazakhstan has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992 and is much farther geographically from Israel than the other Abraham Accord nations — Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz on Thursday said he instructed the army to turn the area at the border with Egypt into a closed military zone to combat weapons smuggling via drones.

"I instructed the IDF (military) to turn the area adjacent to the Israel–Egypt border into a closed military zone and to amend the rules of engagement accordingly in order to combat the drone threat that endangers the country's security," Katz said in a statement.

The Libyan prosecutor's office in Tripoli announced on Wednesday the detention of Osama Almasri Najim, a former police chief wanted by the International Criminal Court over accusations of war crimes and torturing prisoners.

Hamas' armed wing said it would hand over the remains of another hostage on Wednesday as required under the US-brokered ceasefire deal with Israel in Gaza.

Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa set off on Wednesday for Brazil, a diplomatic source said, where he will attend the COP30 climate conference before meeting US President Donald Trump in Washington.

U.S. President Donald Trump will host Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa for talks on November 10, the White House announced Tuesday, saying the former jihadist had made "good progress" toward establishing peace in his war-torn country.

Israel's diaspora minister on Wednesday slammed New York's leftist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani as a "Hamas supporter" and called on the city's Jews to move to Israel following his victory.

Israelis celebrated the return of the last 20 living hostages who were held in Gaza under the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire. But Hamas and Israel are now arguing over the release of the remains of the last eight hostages. Hamas says it has not been able to reach all of the remains because they are buried under rubble left behind by Israel's two-year offensive in the Gaza Strip. Israel has accused the militants of dragging their feet and threatened to resume military operations or withhold humanitarian aid if all of the remains are not returned.

Since the ceasefire began this month, Israel has released the remains of 225 Palestinians to Gaza in exchange for the remains of the hostages, many of whom were killed in Israel during the attack. Only around 80 of the 270 Palestinian bodies returned since the ceasefire began have been identified, according to Gaza's Health Ministry.

The United Nations said Tuesday it had distributed food parcels to one million people in Gaza since the ceasefire, but warned it was still in a race to save lives.