A year after being released from an Israeli prison following a 103-day hunger strike, Maher al-Akhras is barely able to walk. Frequent bouts of dizziness and sensitivity to noise mean he can neither enjoy social occasions nor return to work on his ancestral farm in the occupied West Bank.

Back home, he is seen as a hero of the Palestinian cause, one of a small group of hunger strikers who have secured release from Israeli detention. But the mental and physical damage from the prolonged hunger strike has left him and others like him unable to resume normal lives, and reliant on long-term medical care.

The top U.S. commander for the Middle East has said that the United States will keep the current 2,500 troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future, and he warned that he expects increasing attacks on U.S. and Iraqi personnel by Iranian-backed militias determined to get American forces out.

Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie said in an interview with The Associated Press at the Pentagon that despite the shift by U.S. forces to a non-combat role in Iraq, they will still provide air support and other military aid for Iraq's fight against the Islamic State.

Former President Donald Trump lashed out with profanity at Benjamin Netanyahu for congratulating President Joe Biden on his victory in last year's election, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday.

Trump accused the former Israeli leader of disloyalty, saying he had helped Netanyahu in his own elections by reversing decades of U.S. policy and supporting Israel's claims to territory seized in war. Trump is still falsely claiming the U.S. election was stolen from him.

Israel's foreign minister arrived in Cairo on Thursday on a diplomatic visit aimed at strengthening ties and shoring up a tenuous cease-fire between Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers.

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid met with Egypt's president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, and the country's foreign minister, Sameh Shokry, for talks that reflected budding ties between Egypt and Israel's new government. Egypt's intelligence chief also participated in the meetings.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince was visiting the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday, the second stop of his high-profile tour of Gulf Arab states aimed at fortifying the kingdom's traditional alliances as rival Iran resumes nuclear negotiations with world powers.

Mohammed bin Salman's tour kicked off just after the kingdom hosted its first ever Formula One race and as its first international film festival was underway — events showcasing Saudi aspirations to be a cultural stomping ground and sweeping social reforms following decades under ultraconservative norms.

Israel's Justice Ministry said Thursday it was closing an investigation into two police officers who shot dead a Palestinian assailant as he lay on the ground, accepting the officers' assertion that they acted in self-defense.

A Palestinian attacker on Saturday stabbed and wounded an ultra-Orthodox Jew outside Jerusalem's Old City. He then tried to stab the officers before being shot and falling to the ground. Video footage showed a paramilitary Border Police officer shooting the attacker when he was already lying on the ground.

Iraq and the U.S.-led coalition concluded a final round of technical talks to formally transition from a combat mission tasked to root out the Islamic State to an advisory mission to assist Iraqi forces, Iraqi security officials announced on Thursday.

Iraq's National Security Advisor Qassim al-Araji tweeted that the talks — which centered on the transition — had concluded, formally ending the coalition's combat mission. He said the coalition would continue providing assistance, advice and training for Iraqi forces.

After years of looking abroad for answers, countries in the Middle East now appear to instead be talking to each other to find solutions following two decades defined by war and political upheaval.

The American withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq have played a part in that change. Once ostracized autocracies such as President Bashar Assad in Syria, and shunned former top figures such as Moammar Gadhafi's son in Libya, are back in the political arena amid the still smoldering ruins of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince is in Qatar on Thursday for the first time since the kingdom rallied other Arab states to end their years long rift and embargo on the small Gulf state.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Qatar marks his third stop in the region this week as the Saudi heir to the throne tours the six U.S.-allied Gulf Arab states that make up the Gulf Cooperation Council. His meetings with Arab rulers are aimed at fortifying the kingdom's alliances as rival Iran resumes nuclear negotiations with world powers.

A Saudi man arrested in Paris in connection with the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul has been released and is not the suspect being sought by Turkey over the crime, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

"In-depth verifications to determine the identity of this person have enabled us to establish that the warrant was not applicable to him," the chief prosecutor in Paris said in a statement, referring to an international arrest warrant issued by Turkey.