Officials say Turkey has requested deployment of NATO's Patriot air defense missiles over concerns about Syria's civil war.

Turkish officials have become increasingly concerned about the civil war spilling over the border. A statement from the Turkish government said the request has been made in the "face of risks from the ongoing crisis in Syria."

A ceasefire came into effect Wednesday in and around Gaza after a week of cross-border violence between Israel and Palestinian militants that killed at least 160 people.

Gaza City's streets were dark and deserted in the minutes after the ceasefire began at 1900 GMT, and Israeli drones could be heard overhead, but soon after people poured out onto the streets to hail the "victory."

The United States condemned a bus bombing that injured 17 people in Tel Aviv on Wednesday and undermined attempts to mediate a ceasefire in Gaza, branding it a "terrorist attack."

"These attacks against innocent Israeli civilians are outrageous," the White House said, reaffirming Washington's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security and our deep friendship and solidarity with the Israeli people.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Cairo on Wednesday for talks with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, an airport official said, amid ongoing efforts to reach a truce deal in Gaza.

She is expected to go straight into a meeting with her Egyptian counterpart Mohammed Kamel Amr and with Morsi, who is playing a key role in mediating a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Iran has supplied military aid to the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza locked in a conflict with Israel during which it has fired missiles at Tel Aviv for the first time, the parliament speaker said Wednesday.

"We are proud to defend the people of Palestine and Hamas ... and that our assistance to them has been both financial and military," Ali Larijani said without elaborating, in remarks reported by parliament's website, ICANA.ir.

Pope Benedict XVI says he is praying for victims of the conflict between Israel and Gaza militants and gave his encouragement for efforts to obtain a cease-fire and negotiations.

He told his weekly public audience Wednesday that "hate and violence are not the solution for problems," receiving applause from pilgrims in the Paul VI auditorium.

A Bahrain court on Wednesday sentenced 23 medics to three months in jail each for taking part in anti-regime protests last year and acquitted five others, the prosecution said.

Manama's lower criminal court sentenced 23 defendants to three months in jail or payment of 200 dinars ($530) each to have the prison terms suspended, prosecutor Abdulrahman al-Sayyed said, quoted by the official news agency BNA.

Turkish Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the Iraqi government on Wednesday of trying to drag the country into civil war, amid rising tensions between Baghdad and Iraqi Kurdish forces.

"The (Baghdad) regime wants to lead this (country) into a civil war," Erdogan told reporters in Ankara before he left for Pakistan.

The Syrian opposition will need $60 billion in Marshall Plan-style aid to prevent the country's collapse within six months of a fall of the regime, prominent leader George Sabra told reporters on Wednesday.

He urged a "Partnership to Invest in Future Syria" meeting held in Dubai to immediately launch a Marshall Plan for the Arab country, along the lines of the huge post-World War II recovery program for Europe.

An office of Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Jazeera in the Egyptian capital was firebombed on Wednesday, a security official said, as protesters clashed near the downtown Tahrir Square.

"Unknown assailants" lobbed Molotov cocktails at the office which overlooks Tahrir, "causing a big fire which rescue services are working to put out," the official said.