Egypt on Wednesday expressed "concern" for the well-being of Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli prisons and warned that endangering their lives could inflame tensions in Palestinian territories.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr "expressed his concern over reports about the deteriorating health of Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli jails, especially Samer Assawi and Ayman Sharawneh," a ministry statement said.

Three masked gunmen on Wednesday stole the car of Central Bank Governor Hisham Ramez in Cairo after killing his bodyguard, the official MENA news agency reported.

Ramez's bodyguard and the driver were on their way to take him from home to work when attackers chased them and opened fire on the governor's car.

An Egyptian court has sentenced two Israelis to two years in prison for illegally entering the country, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

The court issued the verdict on Monday, the source said. Andrey Pshenichnikov, 24, and Ahmed Daif, 33, appear to have entered Egypt separately.

Egyptian police fired tear gas and water cannon at stone-throwing protesters outside the presidential palace on Monday as the opposition rallied to mark the second anniversary of Hosni Mubarak's overthrow.

The clashes broke out after several hundred protesters marched to the palace, the site of increasingly frequent clashes, on a day of marches against Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi.

Clerics of al-Azhar on Monday elected a new mufti, or Egypt's leading interpreter of Islamic law, in an unprecedented vote signaling the Islamic institute's growing independence from the government.

Shawqi Ibrahim Abdel Karim, a professor of Islamic jurisprudence, was elected by a newly-formed council of senior clerics, which submitted its nomination for President Mohamed Morsi to ratify.

Egypt's security forces were on high alert Monday ahead of pro-democracy protests to mark the second anniversary of former president Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a police official told Agence France Presse.

Authorities have boosted security around the presidential palace, the interior ministry and around Cairo's Tahrir Square, as well as around key public installations, the official said.

U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met Sunday in Cairo with Syrian opposition leader Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib and urged him to keep seeking dialog with the Damascus government, the U.N. said.

Brahimi met with Khatib and the vice president of the National Coalition, Riad Seif.

A Cairo court has ordered that the website YouTube be banned in Egypt for 30 days for carrying an anti-Islam film that caused deadly riots across the world.

Judge Hassouna Tawfiq ordered the government Saturday to block YouTube because it carries the amateur film produced by an Egyptian in the United States. The film caused uproar for denigrating Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

Egyptian police fired volleys of tear gas at protesters in several provinces, as thousands took to the streets to demand Islamist President Mohamed Morsi fulfill the goals of the revolt that brought him to power.

Protesters lobbed petrol bombs and set off fireworks, as security vans charged towards demonstrators who fled down the large avenue flanking the presidential palace in Cairo.

Thousands took to the streets after opposition groups called for "Friday of dignity" rallies demanding Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi fulfill the goals of the revolt that brought him to power.

Banging on drums, waving flags and clapping in unison, demonstrators marched from several locations in the capital towards Tahrir Square and the presidential palace.