Algerian prosecutors have requested a 10-year prison sentence for French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, accused of undermining the country's territorial integrity, local media reported Thursday.

Sansal, a prominent figure in North African modern francophone literature, is known for his criticism of Algerian authorities as well as of Islamists.

The 80-year-old was detained in November upon arrival at Algiers airport, at a time of growing tensions between France and its former colony.

US President Donald Trump "fully supports" Israel's deadly resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday, blaming Hamas for the violence.

"He fully supports Israel and the IDF and the actions that they've taken in recent days," Leavitt told reporters when asked if Trump was trying to get a Gaza ceasefire back on track.

"The president made it very clear to Hamas that if they did not release all of the hostages there would be all hell to pay, and unfortunately, Hamas chose to play games in the media with lives."

Defending MotoGP world champion Jorge Martin, who suffered two pre-season crashes, said he hopes to be back for the fourth round of this year's championship.

The Spaniard has missed the opening two rounds and had announced that he would not race in Austin, Texas, on March 29 and 30. The next race is at Lusail, in Qatar on April 12 and 13.

"I expect to be in Qatar, but only if it doesn't pose any risks," the Aprilia rider told Italian sports newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport published on Thursday.

Hamas said it fired rockets at Israeli commercial hub Tel Aviv on Thursday in its first military response to the growing civilian death toll from Israel's resumption of air and ground operations in Gaza.

Israel said it had closed off the territory's main north-south route as troops expanded the ground operations they resumed on Wednesday.

Gaza's civil defence agency said 504 people had been killed so far in the Israeli assault, including more than 190 children. Its previous death toll was at least 470.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock officially reopened her country's embassy in war-ravaged Syria during a one-day visit to Damascus on Thursday.

Baerbock reopened the mission, which closed in 2012 amid the Syrian civil war, on her second visit there since the fall of president Bashar al-Assad over three months ago.

Her trip also came weeks after sectarian massacres claimed more than 1,500 lives on Syria's Mediterranean coast -- the heartland of Assad's Alawite minority.

Istanbul's powerful mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, remained in police custody Thursday over graft and terror allegations after being held the day before, as his party called for more protests in Turkey's largest city.

Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival and his detention came just days before the party was expected to name him as its candidate for the 2028 presidential election.

Financial markets in Turkey fell shortly afterwards in what analysts said indicates investors' serious concerns that the move was politically motivated.

French citizen Olivier Grondeau, detained by Iran since October 2022 on security charges but described by his family as an innocent tourist, has returned to France after being released, President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday.

Iranian authorities allowed another French national, who was under house arrest in Iran for several months and has requested anonymity, to also leave the country, sources familiar with the case told AFP on Thursday.

A man in tears struggled Wednesday to retrieve the body of a small boy from under the rubble of a building in Gaza City hit by a recent wave of Israeli air strikes.

One by one, relatives and neighbours used a sledgehammer to try to break apart the large chunks of concrete trapping the young boy.

His eyes closed and wearing a Spiderman sweater, the boy was visible but unreachable.

"The civil defence tried to retrieve people but couldn't get anyone out so they left," said Muhammad al-Deiri, a neighbour who had come to help.

Blowing foghorns and beating drums, thousands of Israelis on Wednesday took over the winding Jerusalem street outside the prime minister's residence to protest what they see as Benjamin Netanyahu's bid to weaken democracy.

"We've all been taken hostage by the government of blood," some chanted.

Others called for the long-serving Netanyahu to stand down, yelling: "You're the head, you're to blame for this catastrophe" -- a reference to the failure to prevent Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, which led to full-blown war in Gaza.

Israel's renewed attacks on the Gaza Strip have put Hamas in a very difficult situation, experts believe, with the Palestinian Islamist movement left with few options.

The group may be now pinning its last hopes on external international pressure being exerted against Israel and internal pressure forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end the war.

The renewed attacks come with deadlock in indirect talks on the second phase of the January ceasefire, with neither side prepared to budge from its position.