Malaysia and Egypt have agreed to ask "international power brokers" to help stop escalating violence in the Middle East, the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian country said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a statement from his office that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi called him late Friday to discuss the latest Israeli air strikes on Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Israeli air strikes on central and southern Gaza killed four people on Saturday, medics said, with Palestinian security sources confirming at least three of them were militants.

The latest deaths raised the overall death toll in Gaza to 34 as a relentless Israeli air campaign against Gaza militants entered its fourth straight day.

U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the conflict in Gaza.

"The president reiterated U.S. support for Israel's right to defend itself, and expressed regret over the loss of Israeli and Palestinian civilian lives," the White House said in a summary of the conversation.

Four Palestinians were killed in new Israeli air strikes on central Gaza Saturday, raising the death toll from 72 hours of raids to 44, the emergency services said.

A statement first announced two deaths in a strike on Deir al-Balah, then added an additional two deaths in a strike on the Masdar area, also in central Gaza.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague indicated Friday he would decide within days whether to officially recognize the new Syrian opposition after "encouraging" talks with its leaders in London.

Hague said he had pressed Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and his two deputies, who are on their first visit to a Western capital since a united Syrian opposition was formed last weekend, on the need to be inclusive and respect human rights.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Friday told U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton in a phone call that he was "deeply worried" about Israel's air strikes on the Gaza Strip, a palace statement said.

"Clinton telephoned the king, who said he was deeply worried about the dangerous repercussions of Israel's aggression on Gaza and its impact on the region," the statement added.

The Iranian-made Fajr 5 rocket fired at Tel Aviv by Palestinian militants has a far greater range than the home-made Qassam rockets used by Hamas in Gaza, but neither are very accurate, experts say.

Fajr 5 rockets can be fired from the back of a 6x6 truck and can hit targets up to 75 kilometers (46 miles) away, according to London-based defense analysts IHS Jane's.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed concern Friday that renewed violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip would damage the Middle East peace process.

"The two leaders shared their concerns about the dangers to civilian populations on both sides and expressed their common desire to see an end to the violence," the White House said, after Obama called the Turkish leader.

Jordan's King Abdullah II has canceled a visit to Britain he was due to make next week, the British foreign ministry confirmed on Friday, amid unprecedented protests by Jordanians calling for him to quit.

Thousands of demonstrators, angered by spiraling fuel costs, gathered in Jordan's capital Amman on Friday shouting anti-Abdullah slogans.

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday said he feared the Syrian conflict could spread to neighboring countries, as Israel prepares to intensify its response to rocket attacks from Gaza.

"Syria might have an interest in a spillover of the conflict into other countries in the region to diffuse interest in the domestic conflict," Rasmussen told students at a university in Odense, Denmark, following a talk broadcast on the Internet.