War-scarred Iraq is seeing thousands of new Covid cases a day but few people wear face masks and even fewer are vaccinated, sparking fears of an "epidemiological catastrophe".

Healthcare workers say they are battling not just the pandemic but also a widespread skepticism over vaccines, borne of misinformation and public mistrust in the state.

Israel said Sunday it would punish Palestinians for the practice of paying militants for attacks by freezing tax payments it collects for the Palestinian Authority.

Israel said Monday it had expanded the fishing zone off Gaza and would allow additional imports into the blockaded Palestinian territory following "recent security calm."

A Jordanian court on Monday sentenced two former officials to 15 years in jail after finding them guilty of a coup plot that sparked a rare crisis in a kingdom seen as a pillar of stability in the region.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday the bloc was hoping for a fresh start with Israel's new government, as Foreign Minister Yair Lapid held talks in Brussels.

Israel's former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu formally departed his official Jerusalem residence early on Sunday, nearly a month after he was ousted by his successor Naftali Bennett.

Iraq's Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi early Sunday visited in hospital a pro-democracy activist who has been critical of pro-Iran armed factions, after the campaigner had been abducted and assaulted.

A mortar shell landed in a gas field in eastern Syria housing coalition forces, a war monitor reported on Sunday.

Steep bread and diesel price hikes went into force in government-held parts of war-torn Syria on Sunday, bringing more pain for civilians in a long-running economic crisis. 

Jihan al-Sadat, the second wife of assassinated Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, has died at the age of 87, the presidency said on Friday.