Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Tuesday called on the international community to pressure Israel to "immediately" withdraw its troops from the south, as he attended his first Arab summit since assuming office.

Since Sharaa's Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) spearheaded an offensive that toppled longtime Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on December 8, Israel has deployed troops to a UN-patrolled buffer zone that has separated Israeli and Syrian forces on the strategic Golan Heights since 1974.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco posted a drop in annual profits on Tuesday as lower prices and volumes hit the lynchpin of the kingdom's ambitious economic reform plans.

The world's biggest crude exporter said profits were down more than 12 percent to $106.25 billion in 2024, the second annual drop following a surge in oil prices in 2022.

Expected dividends for 2025 also fell heavily to $85.4 billion, down from $124.3 billion announced for last year by the mainly state-owned company.

Arab leaders endorsed on Tuesday a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip under the future administration of the Palestinian Authority, presenting an alternative to US President Donald Trump's widely condemned proposal to take over the territory and displace its people.

The prospect of the Palestinian Authority (PA) governing Gaza remains far from certain, however, with Israel having ruled out any future role for the body, and Trump having closed the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) liaison office in Washington during his first term while stepping up support for Israel.

The trial of several prominent Tunisian opposition figures accused of national security offences is set to begin Tuesday, with rights groups denouncing the case as politically motivated.

The around 40 high-profile defendants include former diplomats, politicians, lawyers and media figures, some of whom have been outspoken critics of President Kais Saied.

The charges against them are "plotting against the state security" and "belonging to a terrorist group", which could entail hefty sentences and even capital punishment, according to lawyers.

Palestinians living in war-ravaged Gaza say they fear food shortages and price hikes after Israel halted the entry of aid into the territory to pressure Hamas to agree to its terms for a ceasefire extension.

The effect of the Israeli announcement on Sunday was immediate, and sent ripples through markets across the Gaza Strip.

Prices for basic goods soared despite attempts by the authorities to keep them stable, shoppers and aid workers told AFP.

Hundreds gathered Monday in southern Israel for the funeral of Danish-Israeli hostage Itzik Elgarat, whose family levelled sharp criticism at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of abandoning their loved one in Gaza.

Elgarat, then 68 years old, was abducted from his kibbutz of Nir Oz near the Gaza border during Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 which sparked more than 15 months of war.

Shops and markets in central Tehran, usually teeming with customers ahead of the Persian New Year, now barely see any buyers, a sombre reflection of the dire state of the Iranian economy.

The plummeting currency and double-digit inflation, which have reduced the number of holiday shoppers to a trickle, were behind a parliament vote on Sunday to remove finance minister Abdolnaser Hemmati.

At Tehran's Grand Bazaar, underwear vendor Mohsen said that "business is going very badly. I cannot describe how catastrophic it is."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened Hamas on Monday with unimaginable consequences if it did not return hostages held in Gaza, while the Palestinian group accused his government of sabotaging the fragile truce there.

The first phase of the ceasefire ended over the weekend, but talks on its future have hit an impasse after six weeks of relative calm in the Gaza Strip that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners and an influx of badly needed aid.

A stabbing attack at a transport station in the Israeli city of Haifa left one person dead and several wounded on Monday, medics said, in what police called a "terror attack" whose perpetrator was killed.

"A terrorist exited a bus, stabbed multiple civilians, and was subsequently neutralised by a security guard and a civilian at the scene," the police said in a statement.

It said the perpetrator was a member of Israel's Druze minority from the northern Israeli town of Shfaram who had returned to Israel last week after several months abroad.

From a Bond villain lair in the rugged heights overlooking Damascus, the all-seeing eye of a notorious Syrian military unit gazed down on a city it bled dry.

Many of the bases of the elite Fourth Division formerly run by toppled president Bashar al-Assad's feared younger brother Maher now lie looted.

But papers left strewn behind reveal how the man they called "The Master" and his cronies wallowed in immense wealth while some of their foot soldiers struggled to feed their families and even begged on the streets.