Dozens of Israeli settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Qusra in the northern occupied West Bank after nearly three weeks of tension in the area, drawing rare condemnation from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Iran's supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslim countries in the region to unite against the United States and Israel, in a written message issued six months on from the start of the Middle East war.

The U.S. Treasury Department is due to cut off a major Egyptian bank's operations in the United Arab Emirates from the U.S. financial system, an official said Friday, as Washington pushes to choke Iran off economically.

Iran has left the door open to diplomacy, six months into a war with the United States that has upended the Middle East, but only if Washington abandons its pressure campaign.

President Donald Trump arrives at an awkward moment for his presidency on Friday as the U.S.-Israel war against Iran reaches the six-month mark, a notable milestone for a conflict that the Republican leader repeatedly assured Americans would be a "little excursion" lasting a matter of weeks.

The war isn't over, though Trump claims that through bombs and blockade, he has already devastated Iran's leadership, military and economy.

Two people were killed by an explosion on Friday in front of the Hassakeh courthouse, in Syria's predominantly Kurdish northeast, state news agency SANA reported.

SANA quoted a security source as saying that the blast was from a hand grenade and that it killed, according to health authorities, a man and a 13-year-old child.

It's been six months since the United States and Israel attacked Iran with the perennial goal of transforming the Middle East through military force. The region has changed, but not in the way they had hoped.

The Islamic Republic survived the assassination of its top leaders and weeks of heavy bombing, and found a potent form of leverage in the Strait of Hormuz. Gulf Arab nations saw worrying gaps open up in the American security umbrella they have relied on for decades — and some are looking at alternatives.

A Jerusalem Magistrate's Court judge acquitted a man accused of attacking a Catholic nun based on his insanity defense, but ordered him committed to psychiatric hospitalization for up to six years.

The violent assault in April on a nun walking in her habit in Jerusalem's Old City sent shock waves across Israel and its many Christian communities.

Pakistan said Thursday it was continuing diplomatic efforts to help resolve the crisis between the United States and Iran and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said at a news briefing that Field Marshal Asim Munir’s recent visit to Tehran was aimed at reviving the June memorandum of understanding to reopen the strait.

Some parents said children in Gaza are dismantling their kites after Israel threatened to ramp up strikes as the toys keep flying into southern Israel.

In the past, kites and balloons have been set aflame and launched across the Gaza border, igniting fields and property in Israeli communities. The Palestinian militant group Hamas has downplayed the danger the kites pose.