A small homemade explosive detonated on Friday near Baghdad's Green Zone as an Australian diplomatic convoy made its way into the area, two security officials told The Associated Press.

No injuries were reported.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday he has agreed with his Algerian counterpart to work to combat illegal immigration while ensuring more flexible ways for the North African country's nationals to come to France legally.

Macron's comments Friday came during a three-day visit to Algeria meant to reset relations between the two countries, after a major diplomatic crisis last year broke out over the visa issue.

Ibrahim Slaieh can point to three great moments of joy in his life in the Gaza Strip: his graduation from university, his wedding, and the day last year when he got a six-month permit to work inside Israel.

The permit — a little piece of paper, wrapped in protective plastic — allows the 44-year-old to work at a grocery store in southern Israel, making 10 times what he could in Gaza. It means a better education for his six children, bigger family meals and treats like pastries, fruit yogurt and chocolate milk.

"Over 80 per cent of Palestine refugees in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza live below the poverty line," said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

Lazzarrini told the U.N. Security Council that "in Lebanon, the pressure on the Agency to do more to address the impact of the economic and financial crisis on the Palestine refugee community is becoming unbearable."

The Israeli military said it has filed terror charges against a senior member of the Islamic Jihad militant group whose arrest in the occupied West Bank helped spark three days of heavy fighting in Gaza earlier this month.

Islamic Jihad had demanded the release of Bassam al-Saadi and another detained Palestinian who is on a prolonged hunger strike as part of the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that ended the fighting. The indictment signals that those demands will not be met.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Algeria on Thursday for a three-day visit aimed at mending ties with the former French colony, which this year marked 60 years since independence.

Israel is waging a "last-minute" offensive to convince its allies to halt talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal with a flurry of diplomatic trips, calls to Western leaders and press briefings.

From card games to horse rides, women in Gaza are spending their summer nights outdoors to seek solace from daily hardships in the Palestinian enclave.

After Washington's latest attacks, AFP unpacks the deployments in a porous border region where the U.S. and its Iran-backed rivals operate in close proximity.

The Euphrates river bisects the eastern province of Deir Ezzor where a patchwork of rival forces have taken up positions on opposing river banks. 

U.S. military airstrikes in eastern Syria were a message to Iran and Tehran-backed militias that targeted American troops this month and several other times over the past year, the Pentagon said.

Colin Kahl, the undersecretary of defense for policy, told reporters on Wednesday that the U.S. airstrikes overnight on facilities used by militias backed by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard demonstrated that "the United States will not hesitate to defend itself against Iranian and Iran-backed aggression when it occurs."