U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday warned autocratic U.S. allies they cannot crush the Middle East's youthful "hunger" for change and offered "moral support" to Iranian protesters defying a crackdown.

Obama walked a fine line between offering American support for political uprisings after the Egypt revolt and openly offending states that use iron-fisted rule yet have guaranteed U.S. interests for decades.

A major Gaza hospital named after Hosni Mubarak is to be rebaptized "Tahrir" after the Cairo square at the center of the uprising which felled the Egyptian leader.

"The Mubarak hospital for children in Khan Yunis is to be renamed Tahrir hospital in honor of the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square," Youssef al-Mudallah, director general of the Hamas-run health ministry, told Agence France Presse.

Egypt's military regime warned on Tuesday that a wave of strikes sweeping the country was "disastrous", as it gave a panel of civilian experts 10 days to revise the constitution.

Against a backdrop of persistent nationwide walk-outs and street protests, the junta promised to rapidly restore constitutional rule following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's regime.

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat is expected to issue a “clear, sarcastic, and decisive” statement in response to everything that was said about him since the start of the parliamentary consultations and to the speeches that were delivered during Monday’s ceremony commemorating the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, reported Al-Akhbar on Tuesday.

He also addressed in his weekly editorial in the PSP-affiliated al-Anbaa magazine the recent revolt in Egypt, saying: “The Egyptian people are heading towards freedom after long years of tyranny under the previous regime.”

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hailed the "courage" and "aspirations" of anti-government protests in Iran on Monday, and pressed Tehran to follow Egypt's example and "open up" its political system.

"We wish the opposition and the brave people in the streets across cities in Iran the same opportunity that they saw their Egyptian counterparts seize in the last week," Clinton told reporters during a visit to the U.S. Congress.

Egypt's new military regime on Monday called on workers to end a wave of strikes and civil disobedience that has threatened to paralyze the country in the wake of the fall of Hosni Mubarak's government.

In its latest announcement since it took power Friday, the Supreme Council of the Armed forces urged labor leaders to call off their action, but stopped short of issuing a decree banning them, as it had been rumored it would do.

Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi has urged Palestinian refugees to take advantage of current unrest sweeping across the Arab world and stage a march on the Palestinian territories.

"In the context of the popular Arab revolutionary movement, the Palestinian refugees... must march on Palestine, along with their families," he said in a speech to thousands of supporters marking the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

King Abdullah II met on Sunday with the top U.S. military commander who is visiting key allies Jordan and Israel to reaffirm Washington's support following the fall of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.

The king and U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen "discussed bilateral cooperation and a number of issues of common concern," a brief palace statement said without elaborating.

Hosni Mubarak is still in Egypt in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, caretaker Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq said on Sunday, amid rumors that the ousted strongman had fled the country.

"Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq announced that former president Hosni Mubarak is still in Sharm el-Sheikh," the state news agency reported, after Shafiq gave his first news conference since the former strongman left Cairo.

Egypt's new military rulers on Sunday suspended the constitution and dissolved a parliament dominated by the ruling party of former president Hosni Mubarak, after he was overthrown in a popular revolt.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces' "communiqué number five", which was read out on state television, said a transitional period of military rule would last six months while reforms were put in place to allow free elections.