Police blocked a planned meeting in Algiers Wednesday of opposition party leaders urging a boycott of next month's presidential election, in which ailing incumbent Abdelaziz Bouteflika is expected to secure a fourth term.

The security forces cordoned off Martyrs Monument, the iconic landmark towering above the capital that commemorates the Algerian war of independence, where the party leaders had planned to gather, one of them, former premier Ahmed Benbitour, told Agence France Presse.

Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza fired scores of rockets at southern Israel on Wednesday, causing no casualties but prompting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to warn of a tough response.

The escalation came just hours after British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived on his first official visit to the region since taking office in 2010.

The European Union has warned of "serious consequences" for Middle East regional security if the Gaza Strip's dire economic and humanitarian situation is not addressed.

A report commissioned by EU consuls-general in east Jerusalem and Ramallah urged Israel to ease access restrictions to the blockaded Palestinian territory, especially in light of an unprecedented crackdown by the new Egyptian regime on Gaza's western border.

The lower house of Jordan's parliament, incensed over the shooting death of a Jordanian judge by Israeli soldiers, demanded Wednesday that the government free a soldier who murdered Israeli schoolgirls in 1997.

In a non-binding resolution, all 150 members of the lower house said "we demand that the government release Jordanian soldier Ahmad Dakamseh from jail."

Britain will stand firm against attempts to delegitimize or boycott Israel, Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs in Jerusalem on Wednesday, shortly before Palestinian militants fired at least 25 rockets at the Jewish state.

Speaking at the outset of a two-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Cameron gave a 20-minute address to the parliament, pledging "rock solid" support for Israel's security and expressing "deep skepticism" over Iran's nuclear intentions in a speech which checked all the right boxes and won him sustained applause.

Israeli MPs on Wednesday voted through a law which will compel ultra-Orthodox Jews to either serve in the military or perform national civilian service.

The bill was voted through by 65 to 1 in a poll broadcast on Israel's parliamentary television channel.

Speaker Nabih Berri expressed resentment on Wednesday over the failure of the ministerial panel drafting a government policy statement to reach agreement over controversial issues, adding that March 8 coalition is holding onto the resistance clause.

“The remaining timeframe for the panel to draft the policy statement ends next week,” Berri warned in comments published in As Safir newspaper, calling on all sides to exert efforts to find common grounds.

Israeli tourists aboard a cruise ship were prevented from entering Tunisia due to a surprise decision by the Tunisian government, the cruise operator said on Monday.

"During Norwegian Jade's port call in La Goulette, Tunisia on Sunday, March 9, 2014, a small number of guests holding Israeli passports were not allowed to go ashore because of a last minute decision made by the Tunisian government," the Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Line said in a statement.

An Israeli court on Tuesday ruled that Jewish settlers were the lawful owners of a long-disputed building in the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Hebron.

The Supreme Court ruling brings an end to a legal dispute lasting nearly seven years, after the Palestinian Rajabi family said its four-story building had been taken over by Israeli settlers.

Jordan's Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur said Tuesday that the Israeli government was "completely" responsible for the "hideous" shooting of a Palestinian-Jordanian judge at a border crossing.

The shooting of Raed Zeiter, a 38-year-old judge who Israel said had attacked its soldiers and tried to steal one of their weapons, has set off a diplomatic row between Israel and Jordan, which signed a peace treaty two decades ago.