A judge moved the legal case of a pro-Palestinian protest leader detained and slated for deportation by US authorities to a new court Wednesday, but not the highly conservative jurisdiction sought by President Donald Trump's administration.

The administration had pushed for Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil's case to be heard in Louisiana, a district sympathetic to deportation efforts, but a New York judge instead moved it to New Jersey.

The ear-splitting roar of his jet ski fills the air as Hamza al-Hamm thunders past, kicking up plumes of water -- not at the beach, but in the heart of the Saudi Arabian desert.

Sand-caked SUVs ring the temporary lake, formed by winter rains, as Hamm zips across the impromptu watersports centre doing donuts.

Women in the traditional face-covering niqab sit on rugs by the shore, watching the action.

The lake, surrounded by sand dunes near the small desert city of Zulfi, lasts only about three months a year.

Thousands of protesters massed in Jerusalem on Wednesday, chanting slogans against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who they accuse of undermining democracy and resuming Gaza strikes without regard for hostages.

Protesters shouted "You are the head, and you're to blame" as well as "The blood is on your hands" at the demonstration near parliament, the largest to take place in Jerusalem for months.

The demonstration was organised by anti-Netanyahu opposition groups protesting the premier's move to sack Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet internal security agency.

Israel's resumption of strikes on the Gaza Strip is a major step in the wrong direction after its ceasefire with Palestinian militant group Hamas earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday alongside Jordan's King Abdullah II.

"The resumption of Israeli strikes yesterday (Tuesday), despite the efforts of mediators, represents a dramatic step backwards," Macron said ahead of talks in Paris with Abdullah.

Israel bombarded Gaza and pressed its ground operations on Thursday after issuing what it called a "last warning" for Palestinians to return hostages and remove Hamas from power.

The renewed offensive shattered a relative calm that had pervaded since truce took hold mid-January.

Heavy air strikes began strafing Gaza early Tuesday, killing more than 400 people, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

Gaza rescuers said at least 10 more people were killed in a pre-dawn bombing near Khan Yunis Thursday.

Turkish police detained Istanbul's powerful mayor Ekrem Imamoglu early Wednesday as part of a corruption probe, a move his opposition CHP party slammed as a "coup".

A key figure within the CHP, Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival, and his detention comes just days before he was to be named the party's candidate for the 2028 presidential election.

Widely seen as the strongest challenger to Erdogan, Imamoglu has faced a string of what critics say are politically motivated legal cases.

Iranians on Tuesday lit bonfires in the streets and jumped over them, carrying on an ancient tradition ahead of the Persian New Year to purify themselves and ward off evil spirits.

The fire festival, called Chaharshanbe Suri, is celebrated every year on the night of the last Tuesday of the Iranian calendar year.

In Tehran, fires illuminated the streets at dusk and the sound of songs and music filled the air.

"We came here to have a little fun and boost our morale," said Amir Saadati, a 31-year-old waiter.

A community of Palestinian Bedouins has decried a major theft of their livestock in the occupied West Bank, where the UN says violence from Israeli settlers is taking place in a climate of impunity.

On March 7, dozens of Israeli settlers, some of them armed, attacked Palestinian residents in Ras Ein al Auja while under the protection of Israeli forces, according to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Israel likely aims to pressure Palestinian militant group Hamas into accepting its truce terms with its strikes on Gaza on Tuesday, but the escalation could also serve Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu domestically, analysts say.

The pre-dawn Israeli strikes -- by far the deadliest since a ceasefire came into effect on January 19 -- killed more than 400 people, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Hamas said those killed included the head of its government in Gaza and other officials.

Istanbul's powerful mayor Ekrem Imamoglu is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's biggest political rival who has faced a growing barrage of legal challenges aimed at stopping his bid to win Turkey's top job.

After a sensational entry into politics in 2019 when he was elected mayor of Turkey's economic powerhouse, Imamoglu quickly became a key figure within the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP).