Opponents and supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi blasted a new charter granting Egypt's interim president extensive powers, as talks for a new cabinet were to begin Wednesday.

The military's ouster a week ago of Morsi, after massive protests calling for his resignation, pushed the divided country into a vortex of violence that has already claimed dozens of lives.

Two people died in a militant attack on a security checkpoint in Egypt's Sinai on Wednesday, as a police base elsewhere in the peninsula came under mortar fire, medics said.

The medics and security officials said one of the dead appeared to be a civilian whose car was hit by a grenade. They did not identify the other casualty.

Ministers from the Istiqlal party quit Morocco's Islamist-led ruling coalition on Tuesday, a spokesman for the conservative party told Agence France Presse, threatening a government shakeup or snap elections.

"It's official, our ministers have just presented their resignation to the head of the government (Abdelilah Benkirane)," Istiqlal spokesman Adil Benhamza said.

Israeli police on Tuesday rescued an ultra-Orthodox soldier who was attacked by a group of his coreligionists in Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighborhood, a spokesman said.

"Police rescued an ultra-Orthodox soldier who had taken refuge inside a building in Mea Shearim after being attacked by dozens of haredim," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told Agence France Presse, using the Hebrew word for ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday that it would give Egypt $5 billion (3.9 billion euro) aid to support its economy, six days after the army toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

The aid, which was decided by King Abdullah, will be made up of a $2 billion interest-free deposit in Egypt's central bank, a $1 billion donation and the equivalent of $2 billion in oil and gas products.

The United States said Tuesday it was "cautiously encouraged" by a timeline proposed by Egypt's interim rulers for elections to replace ousted Islamist president Mohammed Morsi.

Washington also again walked a fine line on the issue of whether it would brand the military takeover as a "coup" -- a move that would cut $1.5 billion in U.S. aid.

The United States on Tuesday rejected Russian claims raised at the United Nations that Syrian rebels had used chemical weapons.

"We have yet to see any evidence that backs up the assertion that anybody besides the Syrian government has the ability to use chemical weapons, (or) has used chemical weapons," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

A siege imposed by rebel forces on regime-controlled areas of Syria's second city Aleppo has created food shortages ahead of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, a watchdog said on Tuesday.

"A large number of food products are no longer available, and others have become increasingly difficult to find, driving up prices," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The wife and children of Islamist cleric Abu Qatada, who faces trial on terror charges in Jordan following his deportation from Britain, are planning to move to Amman from London, a family friend said on Tuesday.

"Abu Qatada's wife and five children want to leave Britain and come to Jordan. They are currently preparing for that," the family friend told Agence France Presse, asking not to be named.

Russia's U.N. envoy said Tuesday he has handed over evidence to the United Nations which indicates Syrian rebels used sarin gas in an attack in March.

The envoy, Vitaly Churkin, said Russian experts had been to the scene of the attack at Khan al-Assal near Aleppo and had gathered firsthand evidence.