White-robed worshippers from around the world have packed the streets of Islam's holiest city ahead of the biggest hajj pilgrimage since the coronavirus pandemic began.

Banners welcoming the faithful, including the first international visitors since 2019, adorned squares and alleys, while armed security forces patrolled the ancient city, birthplace of the Prophet Mohammed.

"This is pure joy," Sudanese pilgrim Abdel Qader Kheder told AFP in Mecca, before the event which officially starts Wednesday. "I almost can't believe I am here. I am enjoying every moment."

Hundreds of port workers staged a strike in Jordan on Sunday as the prime minister announced the sacking of several officials accused of "negligence" over a deadly gas leak.

A tank of chlorine gas fell as it was being loaded by crane onto a ship in Jordan's Red Sea port of Aqaba last Monday, releasing the toxic substance.

At least 13 people, including five Vietnamese nationals, were killed and more than 260 others injured, according to the latest official toll.

The Tunisian jurist who oversaw the drafting of a new constitution submitted to President Kais Saied said Sunday it has been changed into a charter that could lead to a dictatorship.

Some articles of the draft constitution published last Thursday in the official gazette could "pave the way for a dictatorial regime", warned Sadeq Belaid, who headed a committee tasked with drafting the document.

The published text is "completely different" from that submitted in person to the president late last month, the respected jurist told AFP.

A Palestinian teenager died on Sunday after being shot by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank a day earlier, Palestinian medical sources said.

The 17-year-old was identified as Kamel Alawnah by the Palestinian health ministry, which said he "succumbed to wounds from live fire by the occupation (Israeli army) in the abdomen and hand in Jenin".

A Palestinian medical source told AFP that Alawnah was wounded in Jaba, a village in the Jenin governorate of the northern West Bank.

Israel is to conduct a ballistics test on the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, the Israeli army said Sunday, a day after the Palestinian Authority handed the bullet to US experts.

Army spokesman Ran Kochav's comment on army radio came after the PA gave the green light for the Americans, but not the Israelis, to examine the bullet that killed Abu Akleh during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.

A Palestinian official, who requested anonymity, told AFP the Israeli comment raised questions about whether the PA could "trust the Americans".

Hundreds of Sudanese protesters demanding an end to military rule took to the streets of the capital Khartoum and its suburbs for a fourth straight day Sunday, witnesses said.

A violent crackdown by security forces during mass rallies on Thursday killed nine people, according to medics, the deadliest day for several months in the long-running protests against a coup last October led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Branden Grace grabbed five of his eight birdies on the back nine on Saturday to pull away for a two-shot win in the Portland LIV Golf Invitational and capture the $4 million first prize.

The 34-year-old ranked 128th in the world pulled level with Carlos Ortiz with a birdie at the 13th, then birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th to secure the win in the second event of the controversial Saudi-funded series, which has raised the hackles of the established US PGA Tour and DP World Tour and sparked criticism over Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

The Palestinian Authority handed the bullet that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to US forensic experts on Saturday as it seeks to prove conclusively that it was fired by an Israel soldier.

The Palestinian Authority was assured that no modifications would be made to the bullet that killed Abu Akleh during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank, and that it would be returned as soon as the assessment was complete, Palestinian Attorney General Akram Al-Khatib told AFP.

The Israeli army said Saturday it had intercepted three drones launched by Hezbollah that were headed towards an offshore gas field in the Mediterranean, amid rising tension between Israel and Lebanon.

"Three hostile drones approaching the airspace in Israel's economic waters have been intercepted," the army said in a statement, adding that the drones were headed towards the Karish gas field.

The drones were not armed and did not pose a risk, Israeli military sources said.

One drone was intercepted by a fighter jet and the other two by a warship, the sources added.

Iran's foreign minister warned Saturday on a visit to Damascus that Turkish military action in Syria would destabilise the region, after Ankara threatened to launch a new offensive on Kurds in the country's north.

"Any Turkish military action in the north of Syria would be a destabilising element in the region," Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told a press conference in Damascus, according to a simultaneous translation from Farsi to Arabic.

Iran is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and an important trading partner for Turkey.