Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has offered to resign Saturday, September 10 along with his cabinet ministers over the failed handling of Friday's protests in Cairo, sources close to the cabinet told government-owned newspaper al-Ahram.

However, Egypt's Higher Military Council rejected his resignation, al-Arabiya network reported.

Some 4,000 people demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday evening, tore down the wall set up to defend the diplomats, removed the Israeli flag from the building and clashed with security forces. Three protestors were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.

Friday's protests were not just against Israel, but also against the Military Council controlling Egypt. Sharaf convened his cabinet for an urgent meeting Saturday morning.

Relations between Egypt and Israel became very tense after August 18, when Israeli troops killed five Egyptian policemen as they chased militants along the border.