Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused Israeli officials of having ordered the air strikes on the Gaza Strip that left 23 Palestinians dead as an electoral move ahead of January's general election.

"Once again this time, they're on the eve of an election," Erdogan told reporters, recalling Israel's "Cast Lead" Gaza offensive which began just six weeks before the 2009 election.

Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Morsi will not attend the enthronement of the new Coptic pope, a man said to be open to dialogue with Islam but opposed to a religious state, the bishop organizing the ceremony said on Friday.

Instead, Morsi will "send a representative" to Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral for Sunday's enthronement of Bishop Tawadros, Bishop Baula was quoted by state news agency MENA as saying, without saying why the president would not attend.

A suspected al-Qaida jihadist blew himself up in a municipal building in the south Yemen town of Zinjibar on Friday, killing three pro-army militiamen, a local chief told AFP.

Four other militiamen were wounded in the assault, said Hussein al-Waheshi, a tribal chief and militia commander, adding that the toll was preliminary.

The U.N.'s top human rights official has denounced three days of fierce clashes between Israeli forces and Gaza militants, urging them both to pull back.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay says she is appalled that civilians are being killed, including three Israelis in their apartment and several Palestinian children, including a baby, and a pregnant woman.

Hamas militants from the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades on Friday executed a man on charges of "collaborating" with Israel as warplanes pounded Gaza, Palestinian sources said.

"The Qassam Brigades on Friday executed a collaborator for providing guidance and information on the locations of the resistance and their rocket launchers to the Israeli occupation," a source told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity.

Thousands are protesting across Egypt against Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The demonstrations come on the day that Egypt's prime minister, Hesham Kandil, traveled to Gaza in a symbolic show of support for the territory's Hamas rulers.

Iran's official news agency says authorities have arrested suspects on charges of planting bombs and sabotaging energy facilities. It says they were tied to Arab and Western intelligence agencies.

The IRNA news agency said Friday they were "terrorists connected to foreign intelligence services" who planted bombs in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan Province, the heart of Iran's oil industry.

Thousands of Jordanians have taken to the streets across the country to call for the ouster of their U.S.-backed monarch in the fourth day of unrest sparked by fuel price hikes that have threatened the stability of this Arab kingdom.

The protests came after similar rallies turned violent earlier this week, with one person killed and 75 others, including 58 policemen, injured in the unrest.

Protesters emerged in their thousands across war-torn Syria after Friday prayers in solidarity with the new opposition coalition and the Palestinians of Gaza.

"We sacrifice our blood and souls for you, O Gaza," demonstrators cried out in the central city of Hama, as they waved the three-starred flag of the Syrian revolution.

Demonstrations against Israel's military action in Gaza and in support of Palestinians took place in Tehran and 700 other Iranian cities after Friday Muslim prayers, news agency ISNA said.

Protesters chanted "death to America" and "death to Israel" in the capital, in demonstrations called for by the authorities.