Flag-waving Algerians celebrated the resignation of ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika after two decades in power, but vowed to keep protesting to demand sweeping change to the country's whole political system. 

The Kremlin on Wednesday said it hoped for a transition of power in Algeria without foreign "interference" after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika resigned in the face of massive street protests. 

In a charged election campaign that has been heavy on insults and short on substance, Israel's conflict with the Palestinians has been notably absent from the discourse.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling Likud Party has offered no plan for what many believe is the country's most existential problem. His main challenger speaks vaguely of "separation," while Netanyahu's hard-line partners speak openly of the once unthinkable idea of annexing all or parts of the West Bank. Talk of a Palestinian state, the international community's preferred solution for the past two decades, is non-existent.

Saudi air defences intercepted two drones launched  by Huthi rebels from neighbouring Yemen but debris wounded five civilians, including a child, a Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebels said on Wednesday. 

The drones targeted Khamis Mushait, home to a major airbase in the southwest of kingdom, coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

France said Tuesday it was confident in Algeria's "democratic transition," after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika submitted his resignation in the face of massive street protests.

Algeria's ailing leader Abdelaziz Bouteflika submitted his resignation with immediate effect, state television said Tuesday, ceding power in the face of massive street protests after two decades at the helm.

Hundreds of students hit the streets of the Algerian capital Tuesday dismissing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's promise to resign as a diversion and demanding an overhaul of the country's political system.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya said Tuesday the rocket from Gaza that hit a house in Israel last week launched due to a technical error, his first official statement on the strike.

A Palestinian wounded three days ago during clashes along the Gaza border died Tuesday, the health ministry in the strip said, bringing to five the number of fatalities from the day.

A U.S.-backed force said Tuesday it was chasing Islamic State group jihadists in eastern Syria, as coalition warplanes pound the militants more than a week after their "caliphate" was declared defeated.