At least 48 people have been killed in Syrian government air strikes on opposition-held towns in the Homs province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Wednesday.

The United Nations announced a deal has been agreed by Israeli and Palestinian officials that will enable reconstruction of the Gaza strip.

Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Robert Serry told the UN Security Council that the agreement will see building materials allowed into Gaza, to help repair some of the “truly shocking levels of destruction to infrastructure, hospitals and schools.”

Palestinian leaders estimated the cost of reconstruction to be $7 billion.

The UN commission investigating atrocities in Syria has placed much of the blame on President Bashar al-Assad, saying that the Syrian regime was responsible for the majority of civilian deaths.

The head of the UN commission, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said Islamic State and other militants are not "the sole agents of death and destruction inside Syria."

“The Syrian government remains responsible for the majority of the civilian casualties, killing and maiming scores of civilians daily, both from a distance using shelling and aerial bombardment and up close, at its checkpoints and in its interrogation rooms,” Pinheiro told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The Ukrainian parliament has adopted a law giving limited self-rule to the east of the country, large parts of which are under separatist control.

The move is part of the ceasefire agreement signed earlier this month by President Peter Poroschenko.

Rebel fighters have been granted amnesty under the new measures, which will also require the separatists to leave occupied government buildings and hand over prisoners and weapons.

Meanwhile Ukraine’s parliament and the European Union have ratified a key EU association pact.

Three soldiers have been killed and five wounded after a car packed with explosives rammed into the gates of a United States military base in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Tuesday.

Two of the soldiers were identified as American and a third Polish, all of whom were part of the International Security Assistance Force, the US-led coalition of armed forces in Afghanistan.

A top US General stated American ground troops may still be deployed in the fight against Islamic State (IS) militants if the current strategy of airstrikes fails to defeat them.

Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he backed US President Barack Obama’s announced strategy of American, European and Middle Eastern governments co-operating to carry out airstrikes against IS. However, he went on to add,

A boat thought to have been carrying up to 250 migrants has sunk off the coast of Libya, according to the latest reports, with hundreds reportedly killed.

Only 26 out of the estimated 250 on board have been rescued so far, with Libyan navy spokesperson Ayub Qassem telling Reuters, "There are so many dead bodies floating in the sea."