Residents of the Mideast on Friday continued angry protests against the Israeli military offensive that has killed more than 1,100 people in the Gaza Strip.

Tens of thousands of people joined demonstrations across Egypt, where authorities were forced to deploy police reinforcements in Cairo and elsewhere, local media reported.

Hundreds of people gathered in the Bassatin district of Cairo before being dispersed by police. The largest protest was in the northeast town of Mansura where more than 6,000 people showed up in parades pressing for an end to the Israeli onslaught.

People in Baghdad, suffering from turbulence since the US-led war to topple Saddam Hussein began, donated money, food and other items to help the Palestinians.

In Syria, one of the staunchest opponents of the Israeli onslaught, more than 2,000 people in the Palestinian Yarmouk camp, urged the Israelis to pull out of Gaza and end the violence.

Meanwhile, Amman protesters demanded the expulsion of Israel's ambassador and the abolishment of Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

More than 1,000 Lebanese and Palestinian women, including widows whose husbands died in armed conflicts, staged a sit-in outside the UN relief agency building in Beirut.

Rallies against Israel have been staged throughout the Mideast since the Jewish state began unprecedented air strikes on Hamas targets on December 27.

Qatar, the only Gulf Arab state with ties to Israel, said it would suspend diplomatic relations with the country over its three-week offensive.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said Qatar also would ask the Jewish state to close its trade office in Doha and remove its staff until the situation improved.

Qatar hosted an emergency summit on Friday in its capital Doha to address the Gaza offensive. About a dozen Arab leaders attended the meeting.

A joint communique issued at the end of the summit meeting called on all Arab countries to stop all peace negotiations and cut ties with Israel in response to its ongoing offensive.

"We called on all Arab countries to stop the Arab Peace Initiative (with Israel) launched in 2002," the communique said, adding that the Arabs should freeze ties with the Jewish country.

Also Friday, Mauritania announced it has decided to freeze political and economic ties with Israel, but stopped short of a full severing of diplomatic relations.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Friday called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during his meeting with visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- Moon. Gul said the ongoing tragedy in Gaza damaged the credibility of the United Nations.

Turkey has been Israel's main regional ally since the two countries signed a military accord in 1996, but the Gaza onslaught has unleashed anger in predominantly Muslim Turkey.

For his part, Ban said he was pleased with the active policy pursued by Turkey in the region. He added that Turkey should maintain its efforts to prevent a likely separation in the Arab world.

The Gaza offensive so far has killed more than 1,100 Palestinians and wounded more than 5,000 others, according to Palestinian medical officials.