Israel's tech industry has long been the driving force behind the country's economy. Now, as Israel's new government pushes ahead with its far-right agenda, the industry is flexing its muscle and speaking out in unprecedented criticism against policies it fears will drive away investors and decimate the booming sector.

The public outcry presents a pointed challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who champions Israeli technology on the international stage and has long boasted of his own economic prowess. It also highlights how deep and broad opposition to the government's policies runs, from political rivals, to top members of the justice system and military.

An Israeli raid on the occupied West Bank's Jenin refugee camp Thursday killed nine Palestinians including an elderly woman, Palestinian officials said, also accusing the forces of using tear gas inside a hospital children's ward.

The death toll rose to "nine martyrs including an elderly woman," the health ministry said, with multiple wounded.

Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday, Palestinian officials said, the latest death in a surge of violence. The Israeli military said the Palestinian tried to stab a soldier.

The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the man as Aref Abdel Nasser Lahlouh, 20. The Israeli military said the man was carrying a knife and was shot after he attempted to attack a soldier at a military post.

Hundreds of protesters rallied Wednesday near the Central Bank in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, angered by the recent devaluation of the Iraqi dinar and demanding the government take action to stabilize the currency.

The protesters — mainly young people — rallied amid a heavy security presence, with many carrying the Iraqi flag and banners with slogans. One slogan read: "The politicians are the ones covering up the financial corruption for the banks."

The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees has called on rich Gulf countries to chip in more to help educate, house and provide health care for them. He suggested some of those countries don't put their money where their mouths are when they voice support for the beleaguered refugees.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, made a pitch to diplomats from key donor states to help fund its new $1.6 billion budget request this year — money which will first have to go to mop up a multimillion-dollar deficit.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made a surprise trip to Jordan to meet with King Abdullah II for the first time in over four years, seeking to shore up ties that have strained since he took office at the helm of Israel's most right-wing government in history.

The rare meeting between the leaders, who have long had a rocky relationship, comes as tensions grow over Israel's new ultranationalist government, which took office late last year. The talks centered around the status of a contested holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem sacred to both Jews and Muslims, an emotional issue at the heart of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Jordan's official statement indicated.

France Tuesday repatriated 15 women and 32 children held in a prison camp for suspected jihadists in Syria, the foreign ministry said, in the third major return of French citizens from the country.

Rights groups have been pressing for years for France to take back the wives and children of alleged Islamic State group fighters held in the camps, since the jihadist movement was ousted from its self-declared "caliphate" in 2019.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, appealed Tuesday for $1.6 billion for its work in 2023, as it struggles to overcome chronic budget shortfalls.

UNRWA -- which provides services to nearly six million Palestinians registered in the Palestinian territories, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, as well as in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria -- warned that "compounding challenges" had placed it under "immense strain".

Hundreds of Israeli high-tech workers protested against the government's judicial reform plan Tuesday, claiming the controversial measures will hurt the flourishing sector by undermining the rule of law. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government insists the reforms are essential to correct an imbalance that has given judges too much power over elected officials. 

An Israeli group raising funds for Jewish extremists convicted in some of the country's most notorious hate crimes is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans, according to findings by The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative platform Shomrim.

The records in the case suggest that Israel's far right is gaining a new foothold in the United States.