Two Hamas militants were killed and three are missing after a tunnel in the Gaza Strip collapsed, the Islamist group's military wing said Thursday.

"The Al-Qassam Brigades hail the fighters Ismail Abdul Kareem and Rami Muneer from Shejaiya, who died following the collapse of a resistance tunnel," it said.

The Israeli parliament on Wednesday voted in favor of a disputed bill on legalizing some 4,000 settler homes in the occupied West Bank, in the first of three readings.

Egypt's prosecution said Wednesday it questioned policemen who had investigated Italian student Giulio Regeni days before his abduction, as part of a probe into his kidnapping and grisly murder.

Syrian President Bashar Assad said a victory for his army in the battered second city of Aleppo would be a "huge step" towards ending the country's five-year civil war.

In an interview with Syrian daily al-Watan to be published on Thursday, an early copy of which was seen by AFP, Assad said defeating beleaguered rebels in Aleppo would not put an end to Syria's conflict.

Syrian teenager Diaa al-Din Hassan lay in a hospital bed in western Aleppo, his eyes alive but the rest of his body motionless, paralyzed after a rebel rocket attack last week.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed for a ceasefire Wednesday in the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo to allow aid to reach civilians, calling the situation "heartbreaking."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will hold fresh talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Germany on Wednesday on efforts to halt fighting in the devastated Syrian city of Aleppo.

The United States, Britain and France led a call Wednesday from six countries for an immediate ceasefire to allow aid into the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.

A statement jointly issued with Canada, Germany and Italy also hit out at the regime in Damascus and its foreign backers, "especially Russia," accusing them of blocking emergency help.

Four sub-Saharan African migrants drowned on Wednesday after their boat capsized off the Moroccan coast, local media reported.

French President Francois Hollande denounced on Wednesday "systematic obstruction" by Russia at the UN Security Council after the failure of a resolution calling for a seven-day ceasefire in the Syrian city of Aleppo.