Israeli forces on Monday destroyed the east Jerusalem homes of two Palestinians who killed four Israelis in one of the deadliest days in the recent surge in violence.

Saudi Arabia has announced it is severing diplomatic ties with Iran following Saturday’s attack on its embassy in Tehran during protests against executions in the kingdom.

Israeli public prosecutors filed Sunday indictments against two Jewish settlers for the murder last summer of a Palestinian family — including an 18-month-old child — in an arson attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Saudi Arabia has executed 47 “terrorists”, according to the interior ministry, including Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr and al-Qaeda-affiliated Faris al-Zahrani.

Israeli jets have launched air strikes in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian security sources said, just hours after rockets from the enclave hit southern Israel.

Three people including a child have been killed and at least 15 others have been injured after a suicide car bombing targeted a Kabul restaurant popular with Afghan officials and foreign diplomats.

At least 32 people were killed and 90 wounded in two bomb explosions in the Syrian city of Homs on Monday, monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

A Taliban bomber detonated an explosives-packed vehicle near Kabul airport Monday, killing one civilian in an attack targeting a NATO convoy the day after Pakistan’s army chief visited the Afghan capital in an effort to revive peace talks.

Army officials in Afghanistan say 21 soldiers have been killed by the Taliban in Helmand province during the last 48 hours.

Zahran Alloush, the commander of the best organised group in the Damascus area, has been killed in an air strike, with conflicting claims about who carried out the attack.