Supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's hard-right government blocked a Tel Aviv highway on Thursday in their first major protest in the coastal city backing controversial judicial reforms.

After three months of tensions that split the nation, triggered protests by tens of thousands, and a general strike, Netanyahu on Monday announced a "pause" for dialogue on the measures.

"The people want a judicial reform," chanted the protesters who numbered in the thousands, according to AFP journalists.

Thousands rallied Thursday across Israel and the Palestinian territories for Land Day, commemorating a deadly crackdown in 1976 on protests against Israeli plans to seize land owned by Arab citizens.

Two people were wounded by Israeli army fire during a march in the blockaded Gaza Strip, a medical source said without elaborating on their condition.

At the main rally in Sakhnin, an Arab city in northern Israel, AFP journalists saw many people wearing the traditional keffiyeh scarf as they waved Palestinian flags and chanted: "Freedom! Freedom!"

Tunisian authorities should release detainees arrested on "unfounded accusations of conspiracy" and drop their criminal investigation mostly targeting political opponents of President Kais Saied, Amnesty International said Thursday.

Since mid-February, authorities have arrested many of the most prominent opponents of Saied, who has publicly alleged they were plotting against the state and labelled them "terrorists".

Saied has seized almost total power since he froze parliament and sacked Tunisia's government in July 2021.

Pistol shots ring out and carbide lingers in the air at the gun range of an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, as Tomer Gal completes the final stage of his firearms licence assessment.

Like many Israelis increasingly fearful of surging violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Gal decided to get a gun licence -- a lengthy process that firebrand National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has sought to rapidly fast-track.

An Israeli court on Thursday acquitted a man convicted of murdering a schoolgirl in 2006, with her mother vowing to find the real killer in the case that has gripped the country.

The verdict reignited the mystery around the case that inspired conspiracy theories, books and movies, including a documentary that aired on Netflix.

"The Nazareth district court today acquitted... defendant Roman Zdorov of the murder of Tair Rada," the court said in a statement.

The United Arab Emirates' president named his eldest son as crown prince of Abu Dhabi late on Wednesday, making him the oil-rich Gulf monarchy's likely next leader and cementing his family's hold on power.

President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan tapped Sheikh Khaled, 41, his jiu jitsu-loving son, as crown prince of the UAE's richest emirate -- a position traditionally held by the leader-in-waiting.

The International Court of Justice on Thursday rejected Iran's bid to unblock nearly $2 billion in central bank assets frozen by the United States, but ruled Washington had illegally seized some other funds.

Judges at the UN's top court said Washington had "violated" the rights of several Iranian individuals and companies and must compensate them, yet ruled they had no jurisdiction over the bank case, which involved a much larger amount.

A Russian jihadist has traded his weapons for wasabi by opening a small sushi restaurant in war-torn Syria's rebel-held northwest, as the conflict wanes and fighters look for other income.

Islam Shakhbanov, 37, from Russia's Muslim-majority Dagestan republic, said he headed to Syria in 2015 "to take part in jihad".

But after years of war, the Damascus government has regained control of most of the country and Syria's main frontlines have largely frozen, putting many foreign fighters out of a job.

US senators advanced cross-party legislation on Wednesday to repeal authorizations for the wars in Iraq -- 20 years after American forces invaded the country to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

Both parties supported canceling the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) that empowered George W Bush to launch the invasion, as well as the 1991 version that allowed his father, George HW Bush, to attack Iraq after Saddam's forces invaded Kuwait.

Morocco is struggling to balance its alliance with Israel with support for the domestically popular Palestinian cause, an increasingly complex challenge with Israel ruled by its most right-wing government ever.

The North African country normalised its ties with Israel in December 2020, part of a series of deals known as the Abraham Accords, backed by the administration of then-US President Donald Trump.

In exchange, Rabat won a key concession from Washington: recognition of its sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara, where the Polisario movement seeks independence.