The crackdown comes just days after Ban renewed his call for all sides in Egypt to reconsider their actions in light of new political realities and the imperative to prevent further loss of life.

“The Secretary-General regrets that Egyptian authorities chose instead to use force to respond to the ongoing demonstrations,” his spokesperson said in a statement.

While the UN is still gathering precise information about today’s events, the statement said it appears that hundreds of people were killed or wounded in clashes between security forces and demonstrators demanding the reinstatement of deposed President Mohamed Morsy.

Ban extended his condolences to the families of those killed and his wishes for a full and speedy recovery to those injured. “In the aftermath of today’s violence, the Secretary-General urges all Egyptians to concentrate their efforts on promoting genuinely inclusive reconciliation,” his spokesperson said.

“While recognizing that political clocks do not run backwards, the Secretary-General also believes firmly that violence and incitement from any side are not the answers to the challenges Egypt faces,” he continued.

Ban knows that the vast majority of the Egyptian people are weary of disruptions to normal life caused by demonstrations and counter-demonstrations, and want their country to go forward peacefully in an Egyptian-led process towards prosperity and democracy, the statement added.

Given the country’s rich history and diversity of views and experiences, it is not unusual for Egyptians to disagree on the best approach forward, it further noted.

“What is important, in the Secretary-General’s view, is that differing views be expressed respectfully and peacefully,” the spokesperson said, adding that to Mr. Ban’s regret, “that is not what happened today.”

Egypt has been undergoing a democratic transition following the toppling of President Hosni Mubarak two years ago in the wake of mass protests. Last month, renewed protests – in which dozens of people were killed and wounded – led to the Egyptian military deposing Morsy. The Constitution was then suspended and an interim government set up.

In a press release issued on Friday, UFree stressed the need to respect the right of freedom of movement provided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International covenants on civil and political rights.

In this regard, the Network strongly condemned Palestinians’ arrest in Egypt illegally and the overuse of “deportation room” recently.

UFree documented dozens of detention cases in Cairo airport for more than five days in inhuman conditions. Palestinians are being held in rooms allocated for suspects and criminals without the most basic amenities. Large numbers of Palestinians were deliberately held in very small rooms suffering from food and medicines shortage.

Palestinian journalist, who demands not to reveal his name for security reasons, told UFree that he was detained with 15 Palestinians and 40 Egyptians crowded in a very small room for more than 10 hours, where they were treated as prisoners.

Palestinians who hold the status of “permanent resident” were deported to other countries while the rest were detained amid fears of threats and assaults, the journalist added.

Among those detained in the “deportation room” at Cairo airport, two Palestinians were managed to travel to Yemen, another was able to travel to Jordan, while three Palestinians were managed to travel to Tunisia, while the rest have declared an open hunger strike protesting their ill-treatment, he said.

The Egyptian authorities have banned the entry of any Palestinian to the Egyptian territories even though they are in possession of a valid visa. Hundreds of pilgrims are stuck in Saudi Arabia as the Egyptian authorities refused their return to Gaza strip.

UFree Network called on Egyptian authorities to put an end to the deportation and detention policy against Palestinians especially that most of the detained travelers were in their way for treatment.

On the same context, UFree has documented several arrest cases among Palestinians who hold permanent or temporary residency in Egypt without any legal justification amid an unprecedented media incitement against Palestinians for political reasons.

UFree Network called on Egyptian authorities to stop immediately the arbitrary illegal arrest campaign against Palestinians in Egypt.

UFree also urges the Arab League to intervene urgently for the protection of Palestinian residents in Egypt and Palestinian travelers as well and to pressure the Egyptian authorities to put an end to such violations.

After a meeting at Arab League headquarters in Cairo with Nabil Elaraby, Brahimi said negotiations could begin on United Nations headquarters.

Brahimi told if dialogue starts at the U.N. headquarters between the opposition and a delegation from the Syrian government, it will be the beginning for getting Syria out of this dark tunnel.

Exiled Syrian opposition leader Mouaz al-Khatib has offered to hold peace talks with the Syrian government, saying he is willing to sit down with the deputy of President Bashar al-Assad.

It is uncertain whether he had received any indication of Syria’s willingness to enter into talks with Alkhatib and the SNC.

An estimated 60,000 people have been killed since the uprising began against Assad’s rule in March 2011.

Khatib is expected to visit Assad’s supporters in Moscow in the coming weeks, as is Assad’s foreign minister Walid Muallem, according to Syrian state television.

Meanwhile, clashes took place between several rebel groups and regime forces near the Neyrab military airport on Sunday with rebels taking over a military checkpoint near the airport.

At the same time, the U.N. refugee agency says it has not yet received the funds recently pledged for Syrian refugees and is struggling to help the rising numbers fleeing the country’s conflict. Andrew Harper, the agency’s representative to Jordan, told AP on Sunday that the $1.5 billion pledged last month at an international donor conference in Kuwait “has not come through.”

With no end in sight to the conflict, tens of thousands of Syrians continue to flee their homes, many seeking shelter outside Lebanon. More than 720,000 Syrians are now either registered as refugees or awaiting registration in neighbouring countries, including almost 240,000 in Lebanon.

Ahmadinejad was welcomed by President Mohamed Mursi at the Cairo airport, as he is set to attend a summit of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC).

The OIC Summit will be inaugurated in Cairo on Wednesday during which Iran, as president of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) will follow up problems facing the members states.

On the sidelines of the summit, Ahmadinejad is due to meet with Al-Azhar Grand Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayyeb Tuesday.

Talking to IRNA in Berlin at the end of his three-day visit to Germany, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said,

“Relations with Egypt have consistently expanded since the popular revolution in that country and this stems from the will of both peoples.”

Egypt is a very important country in the region and the Islamic Republic of Iran views it as a heavyweight in the Middle East and the Islamic world’, he added.

He highlighted the good political ties between the two countries and their cooperation on the international scene, such as the Syrian crisis.

Egypt has responded cautiously to Iranian efforts to restore ties since Mursi took power in 2012, with the two nations adopting opposing stances on the Syrian crisis.

In June, Mursi denied giving an interview to Iran’s Fars news agency which had quoted him as expressing interest in restoring the long-severed ties between the countries. Mursi’s spokesperson said the interview never took place and that Mursi would file a lawsuit against the news agency, according to Reuters.

Iran has hailed the victory of Mursi, who resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood when he was elected in June, as an “Islamic Awakening”. Mursi, however, is struggling to assure Egypt’s Western allies cautious at the prospect of Islamist rule, and Gulf states that are deeply suspicious of Iranian influence, according to Zawya.

Egypt and Iran had had no diplomatic relations since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, with relations escalating in 1980 with Egypt’s recognition of Israel.

In Syria the massacre has to stop. According to the recent UN assessment, more than 60,000 people have already died. This is appalling and unacceptable. I reiterated the European Union’s position that President Assad should step aside as efforts are being made to facilitate an inclusive and democratic transition. The joint Special Representative of the United Nations and the League of Arab States, Lakhdar Brahimi, has our full support in finding a political solution to the crisis.

The European Union has also welcomed the creation of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and accepts them as legitimate representatives of the Syrian people. It is important that they now engage with Joint Special Representative Brahimi and his team.

Secretary General Elaraby and I also discussed the need for concerted and coordinated actions by all key actors to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Now is the time to look forward and to take bold steps towards peace in Middle East. It is key to re-launch direct and substantial negotiations, without preconditions, among the parties in the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. The aim should be a lasting solution ending all claims.

Israel launched over 100 attacks on sites across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, bombing the headquarters of a bank and the home of a Hamas commander, according to Maan news agency.

The Israeli military has struck more than 1,350 targets in Gaza since attacks began on Wednesday, in an operation to deter Palestinian fighters from launching rockets into its territory.

Since then, 640 rockets have hit Israel while more than 300 others have been intercepted by Israel’s anti-missile system, the Iron Dome, according to the Israeli army. Three Israeli civilians died on Thursday in a rocket strike.

The Israeli military said that 67 rockets had been fired at the country on Monday, and that three Israelis had been wounded while more than 30 people were killed in Gaza on Monday, according to Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, the UN agency assisting Palestinian refugees expressed its concern for the rising death toll reiterating its call for all sides to stop the violence.

“The situation [for civilians] is bad,” said the spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Christopher Gunness. “This is a very densely populated place. There are many, many civilians. More than half of Gaza’s 1.7 million people are children, and what we are seeing are rockets flying out of this area, populated largely by civilians, and airstrikes coming in.”

“We are echoing the call of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in appealing to all sides to exercise utmost restraint, to de-escalate so that peace can begin to take hold,” Mr. Gunness said. “All sides must honour their obligations under international humanitarian law to protect civilians.”

Efforts are also underway in Cairo for reaching a truce. Egypt has been trying to broker a ceasefire with the help of Qatar and Turkey.

Khaled Meshaal,  the Hamas leader, said on Monday his group was committed to efforts to secure a truce, but insisted that Israel must lift its six-year blockade of the Gaza Strip.

During a briefing to reporters this afternoon, Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said Mr. Ban will meet with Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi and the Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Nabil El-Araby today, and, later this week, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.

On Tuesday the Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and various Arab foreign ministers are also expected to visit Gaza on Tuesday.

He added that he will remain in his current until the end of his mandate according to the judiciary law.

According to the Egyptian legal system, the president doesn’t have the power to dismiss the prosecutor general from office, state-run media Al Ahram reported.

Earlier on Thursday Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi removed Mahmoud from the post he has held since 2006. He appointed him ambassador to the Vatican.

The state broadcaster said that his transfer was made by presidential decree.

Mahmoud was considered to be a remnant of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

On February 2, 2011, pro-Mubarak forces organized a notorious camel-borne assault on protesters last year.

Earlier on Thursday, hundreds of protesters demonstrated in Cairo against the acquittal of the 24 Mubarak-era officials. The Youth Movement of April 6, had called for demonstrations on Thursday and Friday, demanding that the accused in this case be “retried”
, according to Al Jazeera, while, 
various political parties and groups also have called for demonstrations on Friday against the country’s Islamist-dominated Constituent Assembly, to demand that a more representative body be formed and justice be done for protesters killed or tortured last year.

Almost 850 people were killed in the popular protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster on February last year.

“We have to be prepared in the event that these demonstrations get out of control,” Panetta told the Foreign Policy magazine.

The Pentagon, in response to a wave of anti-American protests spreading in countries of the Middle East, has planned to beef up its security at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, following 100 marines sent to Libya and Egypt after the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that killed four State Department employees, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens.

Protests began earlier this week in Libya and at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo over what was reportedly an American-produced film posted on the Internet considered insulting to the Prophet Mohammed. Since then, there have been reports of protests in other countries in the Middle East, including at the U.S. embassy in Tunisia and the German Embassy in Sudan.

Travel alerts posted on the State Department website are advising Americans to exercise caution because of possible demonstrations elsewhere, including in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Jakarta, Indonesia, accoridng to a statement by Pentagon.

About ongoing protests in Cairo at the U.S. Embassy there, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little  said “the situation hasn’t to this point necessitated a change in security posture. Naturally, we stand ready to support our State Department colleagues if a request for additional military support comes through.”

In Afghanistan, protests so far have been peaceful, he said.

“We’re gratified based on what we know now,” Little said, “that religious leaders have appealed for nonviolent protests … so for at the moment we have not seen outbursts of violence against our diplomatic installations or military bases in Afghanistan.”

In Libya, he added, “we are continuing to investigate what happened and, if asked, support the president’s call to deliver justice.”

He said the department is in communication with State Department colleagues to discuss military support to embassy and consulate security around the world, but that it is premature to reach final conclusions about the recent violence against U.S. diplomatic posts in Libya, Cairo and elsewhere or about who is responsible.

The bodies of Chris Stevens, the US ambassador to Libya, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone arrived in the US on Friday, accoridng to news reports.

“They had a duty and they believed in it, they lived the American ideal with courage, the hope and the ideals of the fundamental American beliefs,” President Barack Obama was quoted as saying at a ceremony in Andrews Air Force base in Maryland, in honour of the victims, according to Al Jazeera. 

“This time has passed now. Now it is time for change,” Mursi said , during his first presidential address to the league, on Wednesday in the capital Cairo.

”No time to be wasted talking about reform,” he added.

Mursi reiterated his call for Bashar al-Assad to step down warning him to take lessons from history in reference to Arab Spring uprsings that overthrew dictators of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

“I tell the Syrian regime ‘there is still a chance to end the bloodshed’,” Mursi told Arab foreign ministers. ”Don’t take the right step at the wrong time… because that would be the wrong step,” he added.

He also told the ministers a resolution of the crisis is the responsibility of Arabs.”The Syrian blood that is being shed day and night, we are responsible for this. We cannot sleep while Syrian blood is being shed.”

Mursi’s remarks follow his speech at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in the capital of Iran, Tehran, where he called it an “ethical duty” to support the Syrian people against the “oppressive regime” in Damascus.

Mursi’s comments come as the Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition group claims the conflict in Syria has left 26,000 people dead since it erupted more than 17 months ago.

Meanwhile, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zohbi on Monday said the Egyptian leader was complicit in the armed conflict rocking his country. ”He is responsible for spilling Syrian blood, as are the Qataris, the Saudis and the Turks,” Zohbi said.

The airline conducts flights twice a week between El Arish, a city on Egypt’s Sinai peninsula adjacent to the border with Gaza, and Marka airbase, located outside Jordan’s capital Amman, according to Reuters. This means that Gaza residents will no longer have to make the 250-mile (350 kilometers) trip to Cairo to travel by plane.

On Sunday, Palestinian Airlines carried 27 passengers on a flight that could have taken 35 minutes had it taken a direct route over Israel, but instead took twice that amount of time as it does not have permission to cross Israeli airspace, according to Reuters.

Founded in 1995, Palestinian Airlines once conducted flights from Gaza’s Yasser Arafat International Airport to different destinations in the Middle East. But it was forced to suspend operations from Gaza after Israel imposed restrictions on the airport and bombing it in 2001.

The restrictions accompanied an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and intensified with the capture of an Israeli soldier by Gaza militants (Hamas) a year later and since Hamas assumed power in Gaza in 2007.

Until last year, the vast majority of Gaza’s 1.7 million residents were locked inside the territory, in part because Egypt went along with Israel which kept its Rafah border terminal with Gaza closed., according to Reuters. But with Mubarak’s ouster last year, Gazans have gradually been allowed to enter Egypt to reach El Arish. After the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last year, Rafah gradually reopened and Gazans are now able to travel, though restrictions remain.

Flights to Jeddah are planned to start as soon as next week, if Saudi permission came through.Plans are also being made to serve pilgrims as the annual Hajj in Saudi Arabia, according to menafn.