After decades of conflict, Iraq will pitch itself as a regional mediator as it hosts a leaders' summit this week -- despite foreign influence on its territory and a grinding financial crisis.

The meeting in Baghdad on Saturday seeks to give Iraq a "unifying role" to tackle the crises shaking the region, according to sources close to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi.

Millions of people in Syria and Iraq are at risk of losing access to water, electricity and food amid rising temperatures, record low water levels due to lack of rainfall and drought, international aid groups warned Monday.

The two neighboring countries, both battered by years of conflict and mismanagement, are in need of rapid action to combat severe water shortages, the groups said. The drought is also disrupting electricity supplies as low water levels impact dams, which in turn impact essential infrastructure, including health facilities.

Qatar opened candidate registration for its first legislative elections Sunday, AFP correspondents saw, announcing the much-delayed polls would be held on October 2 in a test of the autocratic nation's democratic credentials.

Elections to the 45-seat shura council, as proposed under a 2004 constitution, have been postponed repeatedly and its members have instead been directly named by the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.

Egypt has told Gaza authorities it will close the Rafah border crossing from Monday, a spokesman for the Palestinian enclave's Hamas government said. 

"We were informed by the Egyptian authorities that the Rafah crossing will be closed tomorrow, Monday, in both directions," Iyad al-Bozom, a spokesman for the Gaza interior ministry, said in a statement Sunday evening.

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has denied that an air raid in northwest Iraq earlier this week, in which eight people died, had targeted a clinic, insisting the facility housed members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.

Concern is mounting over freedoms in Tunisia as President Kais Saied presses ahead with a "purge" that has seen politicians, judges and businessmen arrested or banned from travel, activists say.

Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza after clashes between its troops and Palestinian protesters left dozens injured, including an Israeli border policeman and a 13-year-old Palestinian boy who were both critically wounded.

Afghanistan's president, driven out by the Taliban, is the latest leader on the run to turn up in the United Arab Emirates. Others who found refuge here include Spain's disgraced former king and two Thai prime ministers.

In nearby Qatar, meanwhile, the Taliban's political leaders have been given refuge for years.

Israel has announced a "new mechanism" for Qatari humanitarian funds to reach Gaza, with money transferred directly to individuals by the United Nations, ending a stalemate over the urgently needed aid.