When Israel struck an agreement with the United Arab Emirates to open diplomatic ties in 2020, it brought an electrifying sense of achievement to a country long ostracized in the Middle East.

Officials insisted that Israel's new ties with the UAE, and soon after with Bahrain, would go beyond governments and become society-wide pacts, stoking mass tourism and friendly exchanges between people long at odds.

An ultranationalist Israeli Cabinet minister visited Tuesday a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site for the first time since taking office in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new far-right government last week. The visit is seen by Palestinians as a provocation.

Earlier in the day, Palestinian officials said a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli army fire near the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem. The Israeli military said its forces had shot a person involved in violent confrontations with soldiers.

The tourism minister of Israel's new hardline government has promised to invest in developing the West Bank, calling the occupied area "our local Tuscany."

Haim Katz made the comments days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government took office, promising in its coalition guidelines to make West Bank settlement construction a top priority. His coalition includes far-right settler leaders in top posts.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has urged Israel's new hard-line government to refrain from "any measures" that could inflame regional tensions, in a phone call congratulating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his return to office.

The leaders spoke days after Netanyahu's new Cabinet was sworn in, promising in its coalition guidelines to make settlement construction in the occupied West Bank a top priority.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinians, including a man claimed by an armed group as a member, during a confrontation that erupted early Monday when troops entered a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said.

The two men were killed in the village of Kafr Dan near the northern city of Jenin. The Israeli military said it entered Kafr Dan late Sunday to demolish the houses of two Palestinian gunmen who killed an Israeli soldier during a firefight in September. The military said troops came under heavy fire and fired back at the shooters.

Israeli missile strikes on the Syrian capital's airport Monday killed four people including two soldiers and closed the runways for several hours, a rights monitor said.

This is the second time in less than seven months that Damascus International Airport -- where Iranian-backed armed groups and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are present -- has been hit by Israel.

Three Egyptian policemen were killed and four others, including a police officer, wounded in an attack in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia, security and medical sources said.

The U.N. General Assembly has asked the International Court of Justice to consider consequences for Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territories, a day after the Jewish state's most right-wing government ever took over.

Libya's Tripoli-based leadership is facing a public backlash for handing Washington a suspect in the deadly 1988 Lockerbie attack, but is betting that the resulting U.S. goodwill can strengthen its hand against rivals.

Married for over a decade, Alia Abdel-Razak is one of a million Iraqis deprived of crucial civil status documents, often caught in legal limbo in a country paralysed by bureaucracy and the ravages of war.