Israel said on Thursday it was recalling its Gaza ceasefire negotiators from Doha for consultations following a response from Palestinian militant group Hamas to the latest proposal for a 60-day truce.

Damascus's top diplomat Asaad al-Shaibani is set to meet an Israeli minister on Thursday in Paris to discuss recent sectarian violence in Syria's south that had drawn in Israel's military, a senior diplomat told AFP.

Sitting near a poster of Che Guevara inside his French prison cell before his release this week, pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah said the "struggle" kept him going during his four decades behind bars.

A court last week ordered the 74-year-old -- who was jailed over the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats in Paris -- be released from the Lannemezan prison in southern France on Friday.

Hamas said it has responded to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, as pressure mounted for a breakthrough to end almost two years of devastating conflict that has triggered a humanitarian crisis for civilians.

Iranian forces warned a U.S. destroyer to stay out of waters claimed by Tehran, state television reported, an interaction a U.S. defense official said was "safe and professional" and did not affect the ship's mission.

A Saudi delegation visiting Damascus on Wednesday sealed investment and partnership deals valued at more than $5 billion to help rebuild war-battered Syria, the oil-rich Gulf kingdom announced.

A plane carrying a Russian delegation taking part in a third round of talks with Ukraine in Istanbul has left Moscow, Russian news agencies reported Wednesday.

"The plane with the Russian delegation has left Moscow for Istanbul," a source told the state RIA news agency.

Pakistan's disaster agency on Tuesday said 221 people have been killed and more than 500 others injured in incidents linked to nearly a month of heavy monsoon rains.

"Since June 26 up to July 21, 221 people have lost their lives, including 104 children and 40 women," a spokesperson from the national disaster management agency told AFP.

Yemen's Houthis said they targeted Israel's main airport Tuesday for the second time since Israel struck a rebel-held port a day earlier, with the Israeli army reporting it had intercepted the missile.

The Houthis targeted Ben Gurion International Airport "using a 'Palestine 2' hypersonic ballistic missile", according to military spokesman Yarya Saree, who had hours earlier claimed a similar attack.

The Roman Catholic church's most senior cleric in the Holy Land said Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in Gaza was "morally unacceptable", after visiting the war-torn Palestinian territory.

"We have seen men holding out in the sun for hours in the hope of a simple meal," Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa told a news conference. "It's morally unacceptable and unjustified," he added.