An explosion rocked a mosque in Egypt's Sinai region on Friday, leaving more than 230 dead and scores injured, according to media reports.

Egyptian state television has reported 235 dead, according to the Guardian, with at least 130 wounded. The blast occurred shortly after Friday prayers in the village of Bir al-Abed, near el-Arish.

In addition to the blast, men in four off-road vehicles opened fire on the worshippers, police said. 

According to local media, supporters of Egyptian security forces were the primary target of the attack, as they were reportedly praying at the mosque.

Other reports have said that further east, the Arish-Rafah road has been closed, according to Al Jazeera.

An Egyptian television channel reported that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet with security officials later today to discuss the attack.

For several years, Egypt has been fighting extremists associated with the so-called Islamic State (or Daesh). Numerous attacks have killed many throughout the country. 

Churches and Egypt's Coptic Christians have previously been a primary target of the terrorists.

This most recent attack comes just following the reopening of the Raffah border crossing with Gaza in Palestine. Following the attack, security forces closed the border, citing concerns for safety, according to Al Arabiya.

Editor's note: This is a developing story and will be updated as more details come to light.

Palestine has surpassed Israel in FIFA's world rankings for the first time in history.

Israel's national football team currently ranks 98th in the world, whereas Palestine now ranks 82nd. Out of 211 spots, this is also Israel's worst-ever ranking, after falling 16 spots from its previous position.

Since its Asian Football Confederation Asia cup debut in 2015, Palestine's national team has seen increasing success. Coach Abdel Nasser Barakat has been working hard to lead his team to victory during matches in the qualifying games for the 2019 Asian Cup.

"It’s a great performance by Palestine, but we need to back it up by continuing to work. We want to end the Asian Cup qualifiers as we started. It’s important for the team before the draw for the finals," Barakat said, according to Haaretz.

The ranking is definitely a symbolic victory for Palestine, especially as Palestine has recently challenged FIFA to take action against Israeli settlement teams.

In October, FIFA's governing body announced that it would not take action against the illegal settlements' teams.

"Given that the final status of the West Bank territories is the concern of the competent international public law authorities, the FIFA Council agrees that FIFA, in line with the general principle established in its Statutes, must remain neutral with regard to political matters," the international football association said in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

As the settlements are considered illegal under international law, the Palestine Football Association has been campaigning against their teams since 2015.

Although the new ranking has a lot of people excited, the New Arab cautions that the FIFA rankings "don't exactly show the true abilities of each nation."

It does, however, reflect their "current form and achievements in international matches."

 "Israel's horrific 2018 World Cup qualifications campaign has had a huge impact on the country's ranking, making them the third most 'worst movers' in the rankings," the New Arab explained.