A Palestinian was killed Tuesday when Israeli forces stormed a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank in what the army called a "counter-terrorism" operation that sparked violent riots.

The deadly shooting was the latest in a wave of bloodshed in the West Bank and Israel as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the Jewish holiday of Passover overlapped this month.

The Palestinian health ministry said 20-year-old Ahmed Ibrahim Oweidat "succumbed to critical wounds sustained by live bullets to the head, at dawn today in Aqabat Jaber camp" near Jericho.

A "No Fishing" sign on the edge of Iraq's western desert is one of the few clues that this was once Sawa Lake, a biodiverse wetland and recreational landmark.

Human activity and climate change have combined to turn the site into a barren wasteland with piles of salt.

Abandoned hotels and tourist facilities here hark back to the 1990s when the salt lake, circled by sandy banks, was in its heyday and popular with newly-weds and families who came to swim and picnic.

But today, the lake near the city of Samawa, south of the capital Baghdad, is completely dry.

Phil Mickelson sparked intrigue about his possible return to golf on Monday after applying for a release to play in the first event of a lucrative Saudi Arabia-backed golf tour in June.

Mickelson's management company confirmed in a statement that the 51-year-old six-time major winner was seeking approval to play in the June 9-11 LIV Golf Invitational outside London -- but stressed he had not yet confirmed his participation.

Iran called on Monday for a new meeting "as soon as possible" in the talks that have been held in Vienna aimed at restoring its frayed 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Tehran has been engaged in negotiations with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly and the United States indirectly to revive the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"It is appropriate that a face-to-face meeting is held as soon as possible," foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told his weekly press conference.

Lebanese rescue teams searched the Mediterranean for survivors Monday after an overloaded people-smuggling boat capsized while being pursued by naval forces, with dozens missing at sea.

At least six people died as a result of the tragedy late Saturday off the northern port city of Tripoli. Officials had reported a seventh victim Monday but it later turned out that one of the bodies recovered had been tallied twice.

Lebanese rescue teams searched the Mediterranean for survivors Monday after an overloaded people-smuggling boat capsized while under pursuit by naval forces, with dozens unaccounted for still missing at sea.

At least seven people died as a result of the disaster, which occurred late Saturday and ignited widespread rage just three weeks before May 15 parliamentary elections.

The body of a woman was retrieved from the water on Monday morning, bringing to seven the number of confirmed deaths in Lebanon's worst such disaster in years.

UN peacekeepers said Monday they were investigating overnight rocket fire from Lebanon into Israel that prompted the Jewish state to retaliate with dozens of rounds of shelling.

Israel's army said that it responded with artillery fire to a "projectile launched from Lebanon", which crashed into an open field near a kibbutz.

There were no reports of casualties or damage, and the attack was not claimed by any group.

Egypt on Sunday released 41 political prisoners from pre-trial detention, according to a politician-turned-negotiator, in a country where many more remain behind bars.

"Forty-one of those held on remand detention on political charges and (charges related to) freedom of thought and expression" have been released, Mohamed al-Sadat said.

Long a fixture of Egypt's political scene, Sadat is a nephew of former president Anwar al-Sadat and has recently emerged as an unofficial negotiator for political prisoners.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday that Israel was "committed" to the status quo that prevents Jews praying at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the epicentre of repeated clashes.

His comments follow violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories that has killed 38 people since late March, with tensions further fuelled by the clashes in Jerusalem and exchanges of fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip Palestinian enclave.

With joyous ululations, thousands of Iraqis have celebrated for the first time the arrival of the "Holy Fire" brought from Christianity's holiest site in Jerusalem to mark Orthodox Easter.

With chanting and prayers, excited crowds gathered Saturday night to greet the flame's arrival at the Syriac Christian Orthodox Mar Matta monastery of Saint Matthew, about 28 kilometres (17 miles) from the war-ravaged city of Mosul in northern Iraq.