Two Iraqi soldiers were killed Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up during an army raid targeting Islamic State group militants north of Baghdad, security sources said. 

A trapped militant "detonated his explosives belt, killing a major and another soldier, also wounding three others", an interior ministry source told AFP, asking not to be named.

An Israeli parliamentary committee has sanctioned a breakaway member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's party, handing a small political victory to the Israeli leader as he seeks to stabilize his fragile government and deter any other rebel lawmakers.

The Knesset committee voted 7-0 on Monday to declare Amichai Chikli a "defector," a status that bars him from joining a rival party in the current parliament in the country's next election. Bennett had requested the vote.

A Palestinian died Tuesday after Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry said, the latest incident in a wave of violence. 

Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat, 20, "succumbed to critical wounds sustained by live bullets to the head, at dawn today in Aqabat Jaber camp" which is near Jericho, the ministry said. 

A key partner in Israel's governing coalition has said that all the factions are working to try and keep the fragile coalition afloat, less than a year after it was sworn into office. The coalition has come under threat by internal squabbles and escalating violence with the Palestinians.

Earlier this month a member of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's party split from the ruling coalition, leaving the government without a majority in parliament and raising the possibility of yet another national election after years of political chaos.

Israel said Monday it will reopen its border crossing with the Gaza Strip to Palestinian workers after closing it for several days following rocket attacks from the Palestinian enclave.

COGAT, the Israeli military body coordinating civilian affairs in Gaza, said the opening of the Erez Crossing on Tuesday would be conditioned "on the maintenance of a stable security situation in the area."

Iran resumed talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia months after secret Baghdad-brokered talks were suspended, state-linked media has reported.

The Iranian news website Nournews, considered to be close to the country's Supreme National Security Council, said a fifth round of talks was held in Baghdad. Ranking security officials from both sides as well as Iraqi and Omani officials, participated it said. It was not immediately clear when the talks took place. The fourth round took place in September.

Thousands have celebrated the traditional "Holy Fire" ceremony of blazing candles at Christianity's holiest site in Jerusalem to mark the eve of Orthodox Easter.

Tens of thousands of faithful have attended the ceremony in earlier years but coronavirus constraints severely limited attendance on the past two occasions.

Israel said Saturday that it would close its crossing to thousands of Gaza workers after a series of rockets were fired from the territory ruled by the militant Hamas group in recent days.

The rocket fire came amid near-daily clashes at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site over the past week, with Palestinians hurling stones and fireworks and Israeli police entering the compound and firing rubber-coated bullets and stun grenades.

Israeli police in full riot gear stormed a sensitive Jerusalem holy site sacred to Jews and Muslims on Friday after Palestinian youths hurled stones at a gate where they were stationed.

The renewed violence at the site, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, came despite Israel temporarily halting Jewish visits, which are seen by the Palestinians as a provocation. Medics said more than two dozen Palestinians were wounded before the clashes subsided hours later.

For journalist Amer Matar, a decade-long search for his younger brother has defined him and changed the course of his life, now dedicated to researching and documenting crimes committed by the Islamic State group in Syria.

His brother, Mohammed Nour Matar, vanished in Syria's northern city of Raqqa in 2013 while reporting on an explosion that hit the headquarters of an insurgent group. His burnt camera was found at the scene of the blast, and his family soon after got word he was in an IS prison. But there has been no other sign of him since.