Thousands of Christians from around the Gulf packed Bahrain's sports stadium on Saturday for Pope Francis' big Mass, as he shifted the attention of his four-day visit to ministering to the Catholic community in the overwhelmingly Muslim region.

The English-language liturgy was clearly geared toward the South Asian migrant workers who make up the bulk of the Gulf's Catholics, with prayers in Malay, Tagalog and Tamil and a priest offering English translations of the pope's native Spanish homily.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has voiced alarm about rising tensions in the West Bank, in a call to thank outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who has conceded defeat in his country's elections.

Blinken spoke to Lapid to "commend Israel for its free and fair elections, and to thank the prime minister for his partnership," the State Department said in a statement.

Israel's election this week cemented the rise of the country's extreme right, with firebrand Itamar Ben-Gvir set to gain a powerful position in government.

After leading an energetic campaign centered on security and Jewish identity, Ben-Gvir celebrated as his Religious Zionism alliance achieved third place -- and likely kingmaker status -- in the November 1 vote.

Veteran hawk Benjamin Netanyahu launched negotiations Friday with his ultra-Orthodox and far-right allies on forming what could be the most right-wing government in Israel's history, raising concerns at home and abroad.

Netanyahu's Likud party won 32 seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, according to the latest official results of the election released on Thursday night.

Israeli fighter jets early Friday targeted a rocket manufacturing site in the Gaza Strip, in response to rockets fired towards Israel, the army said.

One of the rockets was intercepted and three others "exploded inside the Gaza Strip", the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had said earlier Thursday.

Pope Francis warned Friday the world is on the edge of a "delicate precipice" buffeted by "winds of war", during a trip aimed at bridging the gap between faiths.

The 85-year-old Argentine decried the "opposing blocs" of East and West, a veiled reference to the standoff over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. His comments came during a speech to religious leaders at the Bahrain Forum for Dialogue in the tiny Gulf state.

Britain on Thursday urged all politicians in Israel to respect minorities as Benjamin Netanyahu appeared set to return to power with the help of the far right.

Four Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces Thursday, including an alleged attacker and Islamist fighter, medics and security officials said, as violence flared across Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Two Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces in Jenin -- 14-year-old Mohammed Samer Khalouf and 28-year-old Farouq Salameh -- while four others suffered gunshot wounds, the Palestinian health ministry said.

Stitched into the bellies of "smuggler sheep" or loaded onto drones and ultralight planes, captagon is crossing the Middle East's borders in ever more creative ways.

Smugglers have hidden pills in huge tubs of tomato paste, packed them in hollowed out pomegranates or even painstakingly stuffed them, one by one, into pitted olives. The pills have also been hidden in fake fava beans, artificial oranges and ornate stone frescoes.

A decade of appalling civil war has left Syria fragmented and in ruins but one thing crosses every front line: a drug called captagon.

The stimulant -- once notorious for its association with Islamic State fighters -- has spawned an illegal $10 billion industry that not only props up the pariah regime of President Bashar al-Assad, but many of his enemies.