Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered “massive strikes” on the Gaza Strip after a two-day escalation that killed nine Palestinians and three Israelis.

About 22,000 Israeli settlers have flocked to al-Khalil city in the occupied West Bank to visit the Ibrahimi Mosque compound to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Passover, Hebrew media sources said on Tuesday.

Suicide bombers and fighters attacked the communications ministry in the centre of Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, killing two people in an hours-long assault that destroyed weeks of relative calm.

Russian air strikes killed at least 13 civilians, including six children, Wednesday in Idlib province, in the first such raids since a September truce deal, a monitor said.

Peace talks between the Taliban and the US are progressing on a “step-by-step” basis, a spokesman from the militant group said on Sunday, following a bloody attack on a joint US-Afghan base claimed by the insurgents.

For the first time in five years, hundreds of Palestinian Muslims from the Gaza Strip will be able to perform the religious rituals of Umrah in the sacred city of Mecca, Middle East Eye has learned.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stepped down on Monday, announcing his resignation on Instagram.

A new round of peace talks between the U.S. and Afghan Taliban will begin on Monday in Qatar’s capital Doha.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has declared a year-long state of emergency, dissolving his cabinet and local governments throughout the country.

Hamza Shtewi, 18, and Hasan Shalabi, 14, who were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Friday during the Gaza March of Return border protests, were laid to rest on Saturday in the blockaded Gaza Strip.