Three Palestinians were killed on Friday in the occupied West Bank, a day after the United Nations urged a "meaningful political process" to stem renewed violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian fighters when a firefight erupted during an Israeli raid on the northern West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian health ministry announced "two martyrs and three injured as a result of the occupation (Israeli) aggression on Nablus". The Israeli army reported no injuries among its forces.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Tunisia to put an end to what it called the "collective expulsions" of black African migrants to a desert area near the Libyan border.

Hundreds of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa have been left stranded in dire conditions in the south of Tunisia since being driven out of the port city of Sfax in the past week.

The rights group's statement comes against a backdrop of violence after the funeral of a 41-year-old Tunisian man who was stabbed to death in Sfax on Monday in a brawl between Tunisians and migrants.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian militants Friday as a firefight erupted during a military raid on the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.

The Palestinian health ministry announced "two martyrs and three injured as a result of the occupation (Israeli) aggression on Nablus". The Israeli army reported "no injuries" among its forces.

The army said it had entered Nablus to arrest two individuals wanted over a shooting earlier this month at Israeli police in a West Bank settlement that resulted in no casualties.

Iraq has opened an investigation into the suspected kidnapping of an Israeli-Russian academic after her disappearance in Baghdad, a government spokesman said.

Elizabeth Tsurkov, a doctoral student at Princeton University and fellow at the New Lines Institute for Strategy and Policy, has been missing in Iraq for more than three months.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday accused Iraq's Kataeb Hezbollah of holding her, but the pro-Iran armed faction has implied it was not involved in her disappearance.

It has been five years since Jawhara al-Wabili became one of Saudi Arabia's first women drivers -- a reform she saw as revolutionary, even as some activists dismissed it as window-dressing.

"I drove as soon as it was authorised," the 55-year-old from the central city of Buraidah proudly told AFP, recalling a milestone that drew global attention to sweeping social changes fast-tracked by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the conservative kingdom's de facto ruler.

Hundreds of African migrants were stranded in dire conditions in a desert area of southern Tunisia on Thursday after being expelled from the port city of Sfax, witnesses told AFP.

Racial tensions flared this week into violence targeting migrants from sub-Saharan African countries, with dozens fleeing the city or being forcibly evicted.

"I came because I'd heard that human rights were respected in Tunisia, but what is happening shows that this is not the case," said 27-year-old Issa Kone, from Mali.

A Palestinian gunman shot dead an Israeli soldier near a settlement in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, the army said, in an attack claimed by a Palestinian militant group.

Shilo Yosef Amir, 22, was the second Israeli soldier to be killed within a week as violence again surges in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He was killed during a "routine activity" near the settlement of Kedumim, the army said in a statement.

The assailant was later "neutralised" by Israeli forces, it said. Palestinian officials were not able to immediately confirm his condition.

The head of French firm TotalEnergies says national oil giants from the Gulf and other nations must pull their weight against global warming, and the Emirati oil executive chairing the COP28 climate summit is right man to press them.

The appointment of Sultan al-Jaber as head of the COP28 talks to be held in Dubai later this year has been controversial because he heads the United Arab Emirates' Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.

Britain on Thursday announced plans for a tougher sanctions regime against Iran over alleged human rights violations and hostile actions against its opponents on UK soil.

The new sanctions regime will expand existing penalties imposed by creating new criteria under which individuals and entities can be hit.

They include any Iranian activities "undermining peace, stability and security in the Middle East and internationally", and the "use and spread of weapons technologies from Iran".

An Israeli court on Thursday acquitted a police officer of recklessly killing an unarmed Palestinian man with autism in Jerusalem's Old City.

Iyad Hallak, 32, was shot dead in May 2020 while walking in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, after officers mistook him for an armed assailant.

The Jerusalem district court said the defendant was "acquitted" of "reckless homicide", in a decision decried by Hallak's mother as "injustice".