The leader of the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria in an interview with The Associated Press called for international mediators to continue pushing for diplomatic solutions to the complex web of conflicts in the Middle Eastern country, including the escalating Turkish bombardment of Kurdish areas.

Turkey has intensified its airstrikes in northern Iraq and northeastern Syria following an Oct. 23 attack on a defense company in Ankara that killed five people and wounded more than 20. Turkish airstrikes targeted dozens of sites believed to be linked to or affiliated with the Kurdistan's Workers' Party (PKK), which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Israeli legislation cutting ties with the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees raised fears that the largest provider of aid to Gaza could be shut out of the war-ravaged territory, even as the implications of the new laws remained unclear Tuesday.

The agency known as UNRWA provides essential services to millions of Palestinians across the Middle East and has underpinned aid efforts in Gaza throughout the Israel-Hamas war. Legislation barring it from operating in Israel passed with an overwhelming majority Monday. Israel says UNRWA has allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas, with the militants siphoning off aid and using the agency's facilities as shields. UNRWA denies the allegations, saying it is committed to neutrality and acts quickly to address any wrongdoing by its staff.

Saudi Arabia on Wednesday hosted the first meeting of a new "international alliance" to press for the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Unveiled last month on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the "International Alliance to Implement the Two-State Solution" brings together nations from the Middle East, Europe and beyond.

Iran said Wednesday that there had been "no interruption" in its production of missiles after Israel said its strikes on Iran last week hit missile production facilities.

"There has been no interruption in the process of producing offensive systems such as missiles," Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh told reporters.

Mediators for a ceasefire in Gaza are to propose a truce of "less than a month" to Hamas, a source with knowledge of the talks told AFP on Wednesday.

Meetings between Mossad head David Barnea, CIA Director Bill Burns and Qatar's prime minister in Doha, which concluded on Monday, discussed proposing a "short-term" truce of "less than a month", the source said on condition of anonymity because of the talks' sensitivity.

With the U.S. presidential election just a week away, the Biden administration is not giving up hope for short-term deals for cease-fires in Gaza and Lebanon.

But U.S. officials are mindful that political uncertainty in the United States has made the sides reluctant to commit to any significant agreements before it is clear who has won the White House.

Yemen's Houthi rebels targeted a ship traveling through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea on Monday, though it escaped undamaged, authorities said.

The attack ended an 18-day lull in reported assaults attributed to the Houthis, who have been attacking ships traveling through the Red Sea corridor for nearly a year now over the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip. The violence has disrupted international shipping through the region, once valued at $1 trillion in goods annually.

An Israeli strike on a five-story building where displaced Palestinians were sheltering in the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 60 people early Tuesday, according to health officials.

Dr. Marwan al-Hams, director of the field hospitals’ department at the Gaza Health Ministry, announced the toll from Tuesday’s strike in the northern town of Beit Lahiya at a news conference. He says another 17 people are missing.

The United States warned Iran on Monday that there will be “severe consequences” if it attacks Israel or U.S. personnel in the region again, while Russia accused Israel and its U.S. ally of stoking “the flames of war” in the Mideast.

The latest escalation in Iran-Israeli military actions was front and center at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council called by Iran after Israel’s airstrikes on the country early Saturday.

Israeli lawmakers have passed two laws that could threaten the work of the main U.N. agency providing aid to people in Gaza by barring it from operating on Israeli soil, severing ties with it.

The laws, which do not immediately take effect, signal a new low for a long-troubled relationship between Israel and the U.N. Israel's international allies said they were deeply worried about their potential impact on Palestinians as the Gaza war's humanitarian toll worsens.