CAIRO: Three were killed and 1,049 were injured in clashes outside the Israeli embassy late Friday and early Saturday, the health ministry said.
The Israeli Ambassador, his family and working staff left Cairo on early Saturday on board an Israeli military plane as protesters who stormed into the embassy were still clashing with the Egyptian police and military forces in Giza.
Egyptian commandos had entered the embassy building as it came under attack to escort six Israeli citizens to safety, AFP reported.
Only one Israeli diplomat stayed in Egypt to handle embassy affairs, an Israeli official told Reuters. Meanwhile the Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called on a cabinet crisis meeting.
Hundreds of protesters converged on the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the evening, tearing down a large graffiti-covered security wall outside the 21-story building where the embassy is located. The wall was erected on a bridge that runs along the street on which the building is located. It was built following ongoing protests against the killing of five Egyptian soldiers on the Sinai border last month.
On Friday, the police made no attempt to intervene as protesters were tearing down the wall with sledgehammers and their bare hands.
At night, about 30 protesters stormed into the Nile-side high-rise building throwing documents from the windows.
An Israeli official told Haaretz that diplomatic documents thrown from the windows of the tower block appeared to be "pamphlets and forms kept at the foyer."
Protesters also brought down the Israeli flag, the second incident in less than a month.
Witnesses said demonstrators tried to storm the nearby Giza Security Directorate police in the area and set fire to another building. Four police vehicles were set on fire.
Police used tear gas to disperse protesters and gun shots were heard. Witnesses said a police vehicle drove through protesters as it fired tear gas. Clashes with police and army continued until Saturday morning.
Few hours after the incident Israel appealed to the American administration to help in guarding its Cairo embassy.
A statement from Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that in conversations with US counterpart Leon Panetta and Obama administration envoy Dennis Ross he had "asked them to protect the embassy from the demonstrators."
US President Barak Obama expressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu great concern about the situation at the Israeli embassy in Cairo, and the security of the Israelis serving there.
A statement said Obama "reviewed the steps that the United States is taking at all levels to help resolve the situation without further violence, and to call on the Government of Egypt to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli Embassy."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr, who canceled his European Tour to join a Cabinet meeting on Sunday, to urge Egypt to meet its Vienna Convention obligations to protect diplomatic property, a senior State Department official said.
“The fact that Egyptian authorities ultimately acted with determination is laudable. With that said, Egypt cannot let slide this harsh blow to the fabric of relations with Israel and the gross violation of international norms," Netanyahu said in a statement also thanking Washington for its role. -Additional reporting by Farah Saafan and agencies.
