Abdelmadjid Tebboune, the frontrunner in Algeria's September 7 presidential election, has sought to reshape his bureaucratic image into that of a fatherly figure, though his record remains tarnished by criticism over freedoms and human rights.

Tebboune, 78, was elected in December 2019 with 58 percent of the vote, despite a record abstention rate exceeding 60 percent, amid the massive Hirak pro-democracy protests.

Around 24 million Algerians are poised to head to the polls on Saturday for a vote in which experts say incumbent President Abdelmadjid Tebboune faces no real risk to his rule as he seeks a second term.

His main challenge, though, is achieving a higher turnout than in 2019, when he was declared president with 58 percent of the vote but with a record abstention rate of over 60 percent.

"The president is keen to have a significant turnout," Hasni Abidi, an Algeria analyst at the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center, told AFP. "It's his main issue."

Hamas called on the United States Thursday to "exert real pressure" on Israel to reach a Gaza ceasefire agreement as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there was no deal in the making.

The two sides have traded blame over stalling talks for a ceasefire and hostage exchange as Netanyahu faces pressure to seal a deal following the deaths of six Gaza captives.

Hamas's Qatar-based lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya called on the US to "exert real pressure on Netanyahu and his government" and "abandon their blind bias" towards Israel.

Amnesty International Thursday urged a war crimes probe into Israel razing homes and farms in eastern Gaza to expand a so-called buffer zone between it and the Palestinian territory.

"Using bulldozers and manually laid explosives, the Israeli military has unlawfully destroyed agricultural land and civilian buildings, razing entire neighbourhoods, including homes, schools and mosques," it said.

The London-based rights group said the levelling since the start of the war on October 7 "should be investigated as war crimes of wanton destruction and of collective punishment".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Hamas had rejected all elements of a proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza that would help facilitate the release of hostages.

"Hamas has rejected everything... I hope that changes because I want those hostages out," Netanyahu told a news conference, casting doubt on the possibility of a breakthrough one day after the State Department said it was "time to finalise that deal".

"We're trying to find some area to begin the negotiations," Netanyahu said.

Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli strikes killed a woman and wounded five other people in the country's south on Wednesday, nearly 11 months since hostilities broke out between Israel and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah, an Iran-backed movement, has exchanged near daily cross-border fire with Israeli forces since Palestinian militants Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, triggering war in the Gaza Strip.

"Israeli enemy artillery fire targeting the locality of Qabrikha killed a woman and wounded two other people, including a 12-year-old," the ministry said in a statement.

Lebanon's former central bank chief Riad Salameh was charged Wednesday with embezzling public funds and money laundering a day after his detention, a judicial source said.

On Tuesday, he was questioned over the embezzlement of $40 million and detained for the first time since he left his post at the end of July 2023 at the helm of the central bank.

October 7 survivor Sabine Taasa, who lost her husband and 17-year-old son during the Hamas attack, urged UN experts to stop blaming Israel for the war and focus on the trauma inflicted on Israeli children.

"I need you to stop blaming us," said Taasa, 48, whose son's murder was filmed by his killers.

Before Hamas militants burst into Taasa's home in the village of Netiv Haasara in southern Israel, her eldest son Or -- who was on his way to the beach -- called her.

Meta's Oversight Board ruled on Wednesday that the standalone use of the phrase "From the River to the Sea," a slogan popular with pro-Palestinian users, does not violate the company's content policies.

The phrase "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free," has been used as a rallying cry for many since the outbreak of the war in Gaza, with Israel accusing those who use it of anti-Semitism.

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday accused Lebanon's army and the authorities in nearby Cyprus of working together to keep refugees out of Europe and deporting them to war-torn Syria.

Lebanon's army has intercepted Syrian refugees trying to leave by boat, "pulled them back, and summarily expelled them to Syria", the rights watchdog said in a statement launching a report.

"In tandem", Cypriot security forces including the coastguard "have sent Syrians whose boats reached Cyprus back to Lebanon, without regard to their refugee status or risk of being expelled to Syria", it said.