Israeli forces arrest Hamas officials in West Bank

Here is a round-up of global news developments:

• The Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution says Takfiri groups close to Wahhabism are sowing discord among Muslims to divert attention from the issue of Palestine. Addressing the participants at the 33rd International Qur’an Competition, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the collaboration of some governments with arrogant powers amounts to treachery.
  
• Iran and Croatia have signed an agreement and a memorandum of understanding aimed at bolstering cooperation. The documents were signed in the presence of the countries’ presidents. Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic heads a high-ranking politico-economic delegation on her three-day visit to Iran.
  
• Israeli forces have shot and injured a Palestinian east of Gaza City. According to a Palestinians medical source, the man was shot in the foot. Earlier, Israeli forces opened fire on a group of Palestinian farmers in the town of Khan Younis, in the south of Gaza Strip.
  
• Israeli forces have detained several Palestinians including two senior Hamas officials in raids across the occupied West Bank. The arrests come a day after Palestinian lawmaker and Hamas official Abdel Jaber Foqaha was beaten violently at his home in Ramallah before being taken away by Israeli forces.
  
• At least two people have been killed and seven others injured in a bomb blast in the south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The explosion ripped through a local market in the Dora neighborhood. Five others were injured when another bomb went off in Baghdad’s southern Mada’in district.
  
• Human Rights Watch has released a new report on Daesh atrocities in Libya. The leading rights organization says the terrorist group, which controls the coastal city of Sirte, beheaded dozens of residents and flogged men for acts such as smoking. It also recounted instances of crucifixion.
  
• Brazilians have staged a rally in the capital Brasilia to protest against the cabinet line-up of the acting president. Michel Temer named an all-male cabinet last week, eliminating a number of cabinet positions, including the Ministry of Women. The move was described as a step backwards in terms of gender equality.
  
• The death toll from flash floods in Sri Lanka has risen to 35. More than 150 people are also feared dead as a flood-triggered landslide buried three villages in a remote area in the South Asian country. The flooding has forced nearly 200,000 people out of their homes.

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