Six people died on Thursday, two of them minors, when a tourist submarine carrying dozens of Russian visitors sank off Egypt's Red Sea coast near a major resort town.

The Iran-backed Houthis said Thursday they targeted an Israeli airport and army site as well as a U.S. warship, soon after Israel reported intercepting missiles launched from Yemen.

Israel's parliament on Thursday passed a law expanding the power of politicians over judge appointments in defiance of a years-long protest movement against the judicial reforms pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The approval came with Netanyahu's government, the most right-wing in Israeli history, locked in a standoff with the supreme court after the premier began proceedings to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and announced the sacking of Ronen Bar, head of the internal security agency.

An Egyptian security delegation was in Doha on Thursday for talks aimed at reviving a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian state-linked media reported.

The delegation aimed to "secure the release of prisoners and hostages as part of a transitional phase" that is hoped to pave the way to a more permanent end to fighting, according to Al-Qahera News.

Syrian state media said Israeli strikes targeted the coastal Latakia province on Thursday, with a war monitor saying munitions depots were hit.

"In a number of air strikes, Israeli occupation aircraft targeted the vicinity of the Al-Abyad port and the city of Latakia," state news agency SANA reported.

Israeli strikes overnight and into Thursday killed a family of six and a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip.

A strike hit the tent where Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua was staying in the Jabaliya area of northern Gaza, killing him, according to Basem Naim, another Hamas official.

The Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of parts of Gaza City as it steps up its renewed offensive against Hamas.

The latest orders issued Wednesday apply to Zeitoun, Tel al-Hawa and other neighborhoods where Israeli forces have carried out previous operations during the 17-month war. The military said it will soon respond to rocket fire from the area and ordered residents to move south.

Three months following the overthrow of President Bashar Assad, Syria is at a crossroads, the top U.N. envoy for the country said.

Geir Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council that Syria can return to violence or start an inclusive transition and end decades of conflict.

Israel's parliament has passed a state budget, a move that shores up Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's governing coalition even as the embattled leader faces mounting public pressure over the war in Gaza and the hostage crisis.

The budget vote was seen as a key test for Netanyahu's coalition, which is made up of ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox parties that had demanded and largely received hefty allocations for their constituents in exchange for supporting the funding package.

Houthi media in Yemen reported Wednesday at least 17 strikes in Saada and Amran, blaming the United States for the attacks.