Syrian insurgents said Thursday they have entered parts of the central city of Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on its outskirts, part of an ongoing offensive in which they seized Syria's largest city of Aleppo.

Syrian state media confirmed violent clashes between government forces and opposition gunmen on the eastern outskirts of Hama city but denied that the insurgents had breached it. Hama is one of the few cities that remained under full government control during Syria's conflict, which broke out in March 2011. Its capture would be a major setback for President Bashar Assad.

There is “a chance that this time” Israel will “really be able to reach a hostage deal” with Hamas, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday.

Jewish settlers mounted a string of attacks on Palestinian towns in the occupied West Bank overnight, burning homes and clashing with Israeli troops.

There were no immediate reports of any Palestinian casualties.

Russia, Iran and Turkey are in "close contact" over the conflict in Syria, Moscow said on Wednesday, after a shock offensive has seen Islamist-led rebels capture the second city of Aleppo.

"The foreign ministers of the three guarantor countries -- Russia, Iran and Turkey -- are in close contact with each other," Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Wednesday.

Israel’s military said Wednesday it had returned the bodies of two militants who crossed into Israel from Jordan in October and shot two soldiers.

The militants entered Israeli territory south of the Dead Sea on Oct. 18, shooting and wounding two soldiers before being shot dead by Israeli troops. Hamas praised the incursion but not claim responsibility for it.

Israel's military confirmed it killed a senior member of Hezbollah responsible for coordinating with Syria's army on rearming and resupplying the Lebanese militant group.

Syrian state media said a drone strike on Tuesday hit a car in a suburb of the capital Damascus, killing one person, without saying who was killed.

U.S. forces conducted a self-defense strike Tuesday in the vicinity of Mission Support Site Euphrates, a U.S. base in eastern Syria, against three truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, a T-64 tank and mortars that Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said presented “a clear and imminent threat” to U.S. troops.

The self-defense strike occurred after rockets and mortars were fired that landed in the vicinity of the base, Ryder said. The Pentagon is still assessing who was responsible for the attacks — that there are both Iranian-backed militias and Syrian military forces that operate in the area.

An Israeli court on Tuesday ordered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take the stand next week in his long-running corruption trial, ending a series of delays.

Netanyahu's lawyers had filed multiple requests to put off the testimony, arguing first that the war in Gaza prevented him from properly preparing for his testimony, and later that his security could not be guaranteed in the court chamber.

Syria said Wednesday its counteroffensive has pushed back insurgents attempting to advance to the strategic central city of Hama, while the insurgency says it captured more Syrian troops and Iran-backed militants in fierce battles.

The latest flareup in Syria's long civil war comes after forces opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad over the past days captured large parts of the northern city of Aleppo, the country's largest, as well as towns and villages in southern parts of the northwestern Idlib province.

Palestinian officials say an Israeli airstrike in the northern West Bank has killed two Palestinians.

Israel’s military said it struck a militant cell near the town of Al-Aqaba, in the Jordan Valley. It did not immediately give more details.