The White House on Tuesday condemned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's claim that Israel had a role in toppling ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the comments were "offensive and unsubstantiated and wrong."

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said Tuesday that she had offered to return to Cairo to help facilitate a way out of the country's crisis.

"I have offered to go back. I told the Egyptian prime minister at the weekend that I would be more than willing to go back to Egypt if they wish me to come back," Ashton told reporters on the eve of an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers to discuss a response to events in Egypt.

The United States on Tuesday criticized the arrest of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie in Egypt.

The White House said the move ran contrary to the military's commitments to foster an "inclusive political process."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Israel on Tuesday of being behind the military-backed ouster of Egypt's Islamist president Mohammed Morsi last month.

"What do they say about Egypt: democracy is not the ballot box. Who is behind this? It's Israel," Erdogan, an outspoken critic of the Jewish state, told a meeting of his Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The U.N. rights office said Tuesday that it was pressing Egyptian authorities to let it deploy monitors in the crisis-wracked country.

Spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters that the office was seeking a green light to send "several" human rights observers to assess the situation.

The Philippines on Tuesday ordered the mandatory evacuation of its 6,000 nationals in Egypt after Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario visited the country to investigate the security situation after days of violent clashes.

Rosario also ordered the deployment of a special team to Cairo to help speed the repatriation of the Filipinos, who he urged to contact their embassy.

Egypt's media, both public and private, have lined up behind the government in portraying its fight against the Muslim Brotherhood as a "war on terror" and vilifying foreign journalists.

As police and troops chase down members of the Islamist group, from which ousted president Mohammed Morsi hails, the media have taken part in a "campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist currents", political commentator Hisham Kassem told Agence France Presse.

The Muslim Brotherhood has named an interim leader to head the group after its supreme guide was arrested Tuesday, the website of its political party said.

"Mahmoud Ezzat, deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, will assume the role of supreme guide of the group on a temporary basis after the security forces of the bloody military coup arrested supreme guide Mohamed Badie," the Freedom and Justice Party website said.

Human Rights Watch called on the Egyptian government Monday to stop using live ammunition against protesters, as it challenged the official death toll from day one of the ongoing crisis.

In a statement, the New York-based human rights group said the large-scale use of live ammunition was not only unjustified, but also a failure to abide by international policing standards.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel urged Egypt's military rulers to take an "inclusive" approach to governing but said Washington's influence was limited after security forces launched a brutal crackdown.

Hagel reiterated Washington's appeal for dialogue amid ongoing bloodshed in Egypt but acknowledged that the United States could not dictate events there.