US President Donald Trump is close to a decision on whether to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, his son-in-law and Middle East peace envoy Jared Kushner said Sunday.

Palestinian leaders are lobbying desperately against such a move, which the Arab League chief Ahmed Abul Gheit said would boost fanaticism and violence while sinking hopes for peace.

A lawyer for former Egyptian premier and presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq on Sunday demanded access to him after he was reportedly deported from the United Arab Emirates to his homeland. 

Around half of the Yazidis kidnapped by the Islamic State group three years ago are still missing, Iraqi Kurdish officials said Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Sunday for changes to controversial legislation his opponents say was designed to help him survive ongoing police probes after tens of thousands protested at the weekend.

Iraqi officials have blasted calls to disband a Shiite-dominated militia coalition that has been key in battling the Islamic State group, after French President Emmanuel Macron said it should disarm.

The Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas which controls Gaza has called for a new "intifada" if Washington recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel or moves its embassy to the disputed city.

UAE officials have deported former Egyptian premier and presidential hopeful Ahmed Shafiq from the Gulf country he had been living in since 2012 to Egypt after he announced his candidacy in upcoming elections, two of his aides told AFP.

Fresh gun battles forced shops and schools to close in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Sunday as residents warned a three-year rebel alliance was collapsing into a "street war."

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that Middle Eastern countries should solve their problems together without relying on external powers. 

The United Arab Emirates on Sunday denied a claim by Yemen's Shiite rebels that a rebel missile had been fired toward the country's under-construction nuclear plant.

The rebels, known as Huthis, earlier in the day claimed they had launched a “winged cruise missile” toward the plant in Abu Dhabi in the first such strike toward the country.