Egypt Withdraws Diplomat Over Deaths

Egypt is to withdraw its ambassador to Israel in protest at the killing of at least five Egyptian policemen, reportedly by Israeli forces.

The police officers were said to have been killed - apparently in error - by Israeli forces chasing down the Palestinian militants who launched Thursday's co-ordinated attack near Eilat that left eight Israelis dead.

Egyptian officials say the Tel Aviv-based diplomat will be recalled until Israel issues a formal apology and releases the investigation into the incident.

The move marks a sharp escalation of tensions between the two nations, at a time when Israel fears the ousting of president Hosni Mubarak has weakened Egypt's commitment to the 1979 peace treaty.

Egypt last withdrew its ambassador in 2000, in response to Israel's military crackdown in the West Bank and Gaza at the start of the second Palestinian intifada.

The three-pronged attack along the Egyptian border near Eilat, in which Israeli vehicles were fired on with bullets and heavy weapons, is believed to have been carried out by Palestinian militants from Gaza.

Israel claims they travelled through the Egyptian Sinai to carry out the assault.

Officials say the incident has shown the interim military rulers in Egypt are not doing enough to secure the increasingly lawless Sinai peninsula.

But Egypt says lax security on the Israeli side of the border allowed the attack to take place.

Referring to the death of the policemen, Egypt's cabinet issued a statement saying it held Israel "politically and legally responsible".

It also said Egyptian forces would respond to any Israeli military activity on the Egyptian border - raising fears of confrontation in an area that was de-militarised under the peace deal.

In Cairo, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy demanding the expulsion of its envoy.

In Gaza, Israel's airstrikes have continued in retaliation for Thursday's attack, with Palestinian medics reporting the deaths of at least 12 people, most of them militants.

At least nine people have been injured in southern Israel by a wave of rocket fire from Gaza, including three Palestinians who are thought to have been working in the country illegally.

:: The Arab League is to hold a meeting on the Gaza attacks on Sunday.