A Hamas delegation discussed a ceasefire in Gaza with Egyptian intelligence officials, two officials from the Palestinian Islamist group told AFP on Monday.

The "delegation met with the head of the Egyptian general intelligence, Major General Hassan Rashad, and a number of Egyptian intelligence officials, and discussed ways to stop the war and aggression, bring in aid, and open the Rafah crossing" at Gaza's border with Egypt, said a senior Hamas official who was part of the Cairo meeting on Sunday evening.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said Sunday it is halting aid deliveries through the main cargo crossing into the war-ravaged Gaza Strip because of the threat of armed gangs who have looted convoys. It blamed the breakdown of law and order in large part on Israeli policies.

In Israel, a former defense minister and fierce critic of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — and a hard-liner on the Palestinians — accused the government of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where a military offensive continues.

The Kremlin said Monday that it continued to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after jihadists last week wrested swathes of territory from government control.

"We of course continue to support Bashar al-Assad and we continue contacts at the appropriate levels, we are analysing the situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, adding that Russia would draw up a "position on what is necessary to stabilise the situation".

Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have deployed in Syria to back the government's counteroffensive against a surprise advance by insurgents who seized the largest city of Aleppo, a militia official and a war monitor said Monday.

Insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo last week and moved into the countryside around Idlib and neighboring Hama province. Government troops built a fortified defensive line in northern Hama in an attempt to stall the insurgents' momentum while jets on Sunday pounded rebel-held lines.

The Syrian military rushed reinforcements to the northwest and launched airstrikes Sunday in an attempt to push back insurgents who seized the country's largest city of Aleppo, as Iran pledged to help the government counter the surprise offensive.

Iran has been a key political and military ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad in his country's civil war, but it was unclear how Tehran would support Damascus in the latest flareup. Insurgents led by jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham launched a two-pronged attack on Aleppo and the countryside around Idlib on Wednesday, before moving toward neighboring Hama province.

U.S. Navy destroyers shot down seven missiles and drones fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels at the warships and three American merchant vessels they were escorting through the Gulf of Aden. No damage or injuries were reported.

U.S. Central Command said late Sunday that the destroyers USS Stockdale and USS O'Kane shot down and destroyed three anti-ship ballistic missiles, three drones and one anti-ship cruise missile. The merchant ships were not identified.

Israel's former defense minister Moshe Yaalon on Saturday accused the Israeli army of "ethnic cleansing" in the Gaza Strip, sparking an outcry in the country.

Hamas is open to discussing "all ideas and proposals," a senior official of the Palestinian militant group told AFP, as representatives arrived in Cairo Saturday for talks on a possible ceasefire in Gaza.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday that his country's security was key to the stability of the whole region.

Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said Sunday he will leave Tehran for Damascus to deliver a message of support for Syria's government and armed forces, state media said, after a lighting advance by rebels.