A Palestinian gunman opened fire on a crowded street in central Tel Aviv late Thursday, wounding three people before he was shot and killed, Israeli officials said. The shooting came hours after an Israeli military raid killed three Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

The incidents were the latest violence in a year-long wave of Israel-Palestinian fighting that shows no signs of slowing.

Inflation in Egypt again hit a new high for this year in February, the government said Thursday, with prices rising most steeply for food. The country is in the midst of an economic crisis and a currency depreciation.

Annual inflation rose to 32.9% in February, the government statistics agency said, up from 26.5% in January. Grains, meat, poultry, fish and fruit were among the products with the biggest price spikes.

Legislation directing President Joe Biden to remove some 900 U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days has been soundly defeated in the House as opponents of the measure warned that it could allow a dismantled Islamic State group to reorganize and endanger the U.S. and its allies.

The resolution introduced by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., was voted down 321-103. Gaetz introduced the measure after four U.S. servicemembers were wounded during a helicopter raid last month in northeastern Syria that killed a senior IS leader. Despite their defeat in Syria, IS sleeper cells still conduct attacks around Syria and Iraq where they once declared a "caliphate."

At least three Palestinian militants were killed in a shootout with Israeli troops on Thursday, the latest incident of near-daily bloodshed in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli raid was the most recent in months of deadly arrest operations by the military in the northern West Bank. The past year has been the bloodiest in recent decades.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be airlifted on Thursday to the country's main international airport for an official overseas trip, after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there.

The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests underway for more than two months against Netanyahu and his government's contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary.

Ukraine's first lady on Wednesday offered spirited support to her nation's people while visiting the United Arab Emirates, a country that still remains open to Russia despite Western sanctions.

Olena Zelenska described her role and that of other first ladies and gentlemen in the world as a real power while speaking before a packed ballroom on International Women's Day. She also applauded the work of the average Ukrainian amid the ongoing war.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that America's defense partnership with Egypt is an "essential pillar" of Washington's commitment to the Middle East.

Austin made the remark on Twitter after touching down in Cairo on the latest leg of his Middle East tour. He was greeted by senior Egyptian military officials at the Cairo airport.

The second astronaut from the United Arab Emirates is still adjusting to life off the planet, after rocketing to the International Space Station last week.

"I'm still coping. I'm still learning," Sultan al-Neyadi said, but added that he hopes to improve in the coming days.

The U.N. Middle East peace envoy urged Israel and the Palestinians Wednesday to calm surging violence in the occupied West Bank, a day after the latest Israeli raid killed six people.

A drone strike killed four people in government-held eastern Syria on Wednesday in an area controlled by Iran-backed factions, a war monitor said.

"Four people were killed and eight wounded in a drone strike near a weapons factory belonging to Iran-backed groups and near a truck loaded with weapons," Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP.