Egypt recalls ambassador from Israel after airstrikes against Gaza

Palestinian medics carry a wounded baby into the al-shifa hospital in Gaza City following an Israeli airstrike on November 14, 2012.

On Wednesday, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi ordered to "recall Egypt's ambassador to Israel," the president’s spokesman Yasser Ali said in a statement broadcast on state television.

"President Mohamed Morsi has followed the Israeli brutal assault in which a number of martyrs and sons of the Palestinian people were killed," Ali added.

"On this basis he has recalled the Egyptian ambassador from Israel; has ordered the Egyptian representative at the United Nations to call for an emergency meeting at the Security Council," the statement said.

Morsi also asked the Foreign Ministry to summon Israel's ambassador to Cairo over the assaults and demanded an emergency Arab League ministerial meeting in Cairo to discuss the Israeli attacks.

Israel's Ambassador to Cairo Yaakov Amitai left Egypt after President Morsi announced he was summoning him.

"On behalf of the Egyptian people, the president gives his condolences to the Palestinian people over their martyrs," Ali said.

Earlier in the day, Egyptians held an anti-Israeli demonstration at Cairo's Tahrir Square, calling on the country to recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv following the deadly Israeli airstrikes.

On Wednesday, Israel unleashed a major military operation against the Gaza Strip, killing ten people including senior Hamas commander Ahmed al-Ja'bari.

Twenty Palestinians were also injured in the Israeli attacks. Two children are among those killed in the strikes, according to Gaza's health ninister.

Tel Aviv continues to attack from the air and the sea and has even called up its reserve troops for a possible ground invasion.

The Israeli military frequently carries out airstrikes and other attacks on Gaza, claiming they are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.

Gaza has been blockaded since 2007, a situation that has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.

DB/MHB