Hundreds of Palestinians gathered Sunday night along the separation fence with Israel, setting tires on fire and throwing explosives as Gaza's Hamas rulers pressed ahead with a campaign aimed at pressuring Israel to ease a stifling blockade of the territory. One protester was moderately wounded by Israeli gunfire.

It was the second consecutive nighttime border protest and took place hours after Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes on alleged Hamas targets in response to the unrest. Hamas officials have promised to hold nightly protests all week.

Iran and Syria vowed on Sunday to take "mighty steps" to confront U.S. sanctions imposed on the two regional allies, saying their relations will strengthen under Iran's new leadership.

The announcement was made by Iran's new Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was received at the airport a visit to Damascus by his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad.

Israel's defense minister has held talks with the Palestinian president in Ramallah, the first high-level meeting between the two sides in years, officials said.

Sunday's meeting between Benny Gantz and Mahmoud Abbas signaled a possible shift of direction after after the near-complete breakdown of communication between Abbas and Israeli leaders in recent years.

French President Emmanuel Macron was to pay a visit Sunday to the Islamic State group's former Iraqi stronghold Mosul, a day after vowing to keep troops in the country.

Arab heads of state and senior officials from the region including archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia held a rare meeting Saturday at a conference hosted by Iraq. The meeting is aimed at easing Mideast tensions and underscored the Arab country's new role as mediator.

French President Emmanuel Macron also attended the Baghdad meeting, hailing it as a major boost for Iraq and its leadership. The country had been largely shunned by Arab leaders for the past few decades because of security concerns amid back-to-back wars and internal unrest, its airport frequently attacked with rockets by insurgents.

The Israeli air force attacked two sites in Gaza on Sunday, the army said, after Gazans clashed with forces on the border and launched incendiary balloons into southern Israel.

Iraqi security forces fanned out across the Iraqi capital Saturday ahead of a regional conference aimed at easing tensions in the Middle East and emphasizing the Arab country's new role as mediator.

Rights group Amnesty International has urged the Syrian government to immediately allow humanitarian aid into a rebel holdout under regime "siege" in the southern city of Daraa.

A second group of rebel fighters left the southern Syrian city of Daraa Thursday under a Russian-brokered truce aimed at ending the region's worst fighting in years, a monitor said.

Daraa, seen as the birthplace of Syria's uprising in 2011 and held for years by opposition forces, was returned to government control in 2018 under a previous Moscow-backed ceasefire that had allowed rebels to stay in some areas of Daraa province.

The family of Palestinian activist Nizar Banat, who died in Palestinian custody in June, has stepped up its quest for international justice, turning to British police and the U.N.

Banat -- a leading critic of the Palestinian Authority and its 86-year old president Mahmud Abbas -- died after security forces stormed his home in the flashpoint city of Hebron and dragged him away.