An Egyptian court asked the top religious authority on Thursday to reconsider his decision to reject its death sentence against the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and 13 supporters on charges of murder and possession of firearms.

Militants from the hardline Islamic State group have seized one of the last remaining government bases in the northern province of Raqqa, activists said on Thursday, in clashes a monitoring group said killed more than 40 people.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide, Mohamed Badie, and 14 other leading members of the group may not be sentenced to death on charges of inciting murder and violence in the Istaqama Mosque clashes trial.

Egypt's Coptic Pope Tawadros and leaders of other Egyptian Christian churches have urged Egypt's president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to continue to support the restoration of churches damaged in anti-Coptic assaults reportedly by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in August of 2013, a month after the ouster of the Islamist president.

Attorney General Hisham Barakat ordered the arrest of six Egyptian suspects the government claims belong to Ansar al-Sharia, a jihadist group most known for its activity in Libya, and to a degree, Tunisia, Youm7 reported Wednesday.

Tens of Egyptian Orthodox Coptic Christians entered the main cathedral in Cairo on Wednesday while Pope Tawadros II was speaking to protest against a decision from a bishop for women to wear more "modest" clothing during holy communion.

Minister of Religious Endowments Mohamed Mokhtar Gomaa approved a plan that was prepared by several scholars, sociologists and psychiatrists to confront atheism.

Jihadists who occupied eastern Lebanon's Arsal near the Syrian border have agreed to leave in 24 hours and to release military and police hostages, Sunni clerics said on Wednesday.

The trial of leading Muslim Brotherhood figures, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, for the violence outside the Brotherhood’s headquarters in 2013 was postponed on Tuesday to 16 August.

An Egyptian court sent on Tuesday 16 defendants to 10 years in maximum security prison for attempting to break into al-Waily police station last September.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi hinted on Tuesday at readiness to accept the presence of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

Thanks to God, and thanks to the selfless sacrifices of the heroes of the resistance and the steadfastness of the great people of Gaza, the resistance has successfully foiled the atrocious aggression by the most powerful army in the region, and caused it heavy losses in soldiers and officers. Losses that this supposedly powerful army tried to cover up with horrid brutal massacres of unarmed Gaza civilians including children, women and the elderly, and the destruction of homes, mosques, hospitals and civilian facilities. At present, it is trying to pull away from the borders of the Gaza Strip in order to avoid further losses.

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of killing civilians as they attempted to flee a stricken neighbourhood of Gaza, in what it said would amount to a war crime.

At least 11 "terrorists" were killed in a security crackdown in several areas in North Sinai, the army spokesperson said in a statement on Monday.

Egypt is pressing for a 72-hour Gaza ceasefire to be held Tuesday, Palestinian officials said, just hours after Hamas accused Israel of trying to scuttle Cairo truce talks.

The Administrative Court decided on Monday to issue a verdict in 10 lawsuits demanding the dissolution of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) on 6 August.

The South Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday postponed the trial of Mohamed al-Zawahiri, brother of the al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, and 67 others to 9 August due to a malfunction in the microphone, as the judge could not hear the defendants from inside the glass dock.

The Egyptian Popular Current – the political movement of former presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahi – has denied accusations that one of its members, Amr Saleh, belongs to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.

An Egyptian criminal court on Sunday postponed the case against the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie and a number of the group's top members for inciting murder outside of a Giza mosque last year to 7 August.

The Salafist Nour Party will delay the announcement of its stance on the forthcoming parliamentary elections until the issuance of the law of dividing governorates, said party spokesperson Nader Bakar Sunday.

The trial of over 50 leading Muslim Brotherhood members, including the group's Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, on charges of setting up a "control room" to direct violence and chaos across the country during last summer's upheaval has been adjourned by a Cairo criminal court to 16 August.