Pope Francis and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu traded words on Monday over the language spoken by Jesus two millennia ago.

An Egyptian soldier was shot dead by unknown attackers in Sinai's Rafah on Wednesday, security sources said.

On Wednesday, gunmen killed an Egyptian soldier at Salah Eddin Square in Rafah, North Sinai.

Sources within the Nour Party, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the members dfied the instructions of the party leaders to vote for Sisi and boycotted the presidential elections.

Since the 2011 revolution that ousted longtime president Hosni Mubarak, the Arab world’s most populous country, Egypt, has faced an uncertain future. Briefly ruled by the long-repressed Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt was retaken by its dominant military after widespread dissatisfaction with the rule of president Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood member.

Nine university professors have been arrested in Saudi Arabia over alleged links to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, which is banned in the Saudi kingdom.

On Tuesday morning, a small explosion rocked parts of Heliopolis after an IED planted on al-Hamam street went off, an official at the interior ministry's media center said.

Security forces arrested on Tuesday 8 alleged Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Minya after an illegal demonstration of 50 protesters took place near a polling station, state run MENA reported. The arrests come a day after at least 22 supporters of the ousted Morsi were detained.

To counter claims that top militant figure Shadi El-Menei is still alive, Egypt's Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim has confirmed the news of his killing, state news agency MENA reported late on Monday.

Pope Francis has visited the most important holy sites for Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem's Old City on the final day of his Middle East tour.

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy issued a statement on Monday saying that a huge number of Egyptians have boycotted the first day of the presidential elections in protest at the "military takeover."

Extremist Islamist group Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis has denied reports that one of its leading figures, Shadi Al-Menei has been killed in a military operation in Sinai.

Security forces used teargas to disperse dozens of supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi who attempted to prevent voters from casting their ballots in the town of Kerdasa, located south of Greater Cairo, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.

The influential Qatar-based Muslim cleric Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi on Sunday called on Egyptians to boycott presidential elections and shun front-runner Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, saying the former army chief had "disobeyed God".

The Cairo Criminal Court postponed on Sunday the trial of renowned activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah and 24 others to 11 June.

"We are not pleased that Egypt has deviated from the path of democracy," Amir Abdollahian said, addressing a Q&A meeting in Tehran University on Sunday.

A judicial disciplinary body in Egypt has suspended 16 judges pending a probe on their affiliation to a group with alleged links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Reuters' Aswat Masriya reported on Sunday

A former Muslim Brotherhood leader has warned that government oppression in Egypt is fanning militancy that will pose a threat abroad unless the army-backed authorities start respecting freedom and human rights.

The Egyptian cabinet passed on Thursday a law presented by the interim president to annul the pardon decrees issued by ousted president Mohamed Morsi during his tenure.

The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy (NASL), which backs deposed President Mohamed Morsy, said the International Criminal Court accepted its lawsuit accusing the Egyptian authorities of war crimes during the dispersal of the Brotherhood sit-ins in August 2013, noting that the court would officially announce it in a few days.