Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday that NATO member Ankara would formally ask the alliance for Patriot missiles to protect its border with conflict-wracked Syria.

"(Patriots) are a precautionary measure, for defense in particular," Davutoglu told reporters before he left Ankara for Gaza. "We will submit the formal request as soon as possible."

A young French-Turkish student appeared in court again on Monday accused of links to an outlawed far-left extremist group in a case which has sparked outrage among rights group.

Sevil Sevimli, a 20-year-old exchange student, was arrested in Turkey after joining a May Day parade in Istanbul and went on trial in September on charges that risk up to 32 years in prison.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused the United Nations on Monday of failing to act over the deadly Israeli air bombardments of Gaza, calling Israeli a "terrorist state" that "massacres innocent children".

He accused the U.N. Security Council of "turning a blind eye" to the suffering of Muslims across the world and called for "sincere action" to end Israel's strikes on Gaza, where 90 Palestinians died since violence erupted on Wednesday, while three Israelis have been killed in militant rocket fire.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Monday said the alliance would consider a request from Turkey to deploy Patriot anti-missile batteries along its border with Syria "as a matter of urgency.”

Rasmussen, arriving for a meeting of European Union defense ministers, said NATO had received no formal request from NATO-member Turkey to date but added that if one was made, "we will consider that as a matter of urgency.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will pay a visit Tuesday to the Gaza Strip, which has been battered by a deadly Israeli air bombardment in six days of violence between Israel and Palestinian militants, the foreign ministry said.

Davutoglu's trip is part of an Arab League initiative, the Anatolia news agency said, referring to a planned visit Tuesday by a delegation from the bloc and its leader Nabil al-Arabi in a show of support for Gaza.

A human rights group said Sunday that hundreds of Kurdish prisoners in dozens of Turkish jails have ended a hunger strike they started to demand more rights for Kurds and improved jail conditions for Kurdish rebel leader, Abdullah Ocalan.

Ozturk Turkdogan, who heads the Turkish Human Rights Association, told The Associated Press that some 700 inmates ended their strike on Sunday, heeding a call by Ocalan for the protest to stop.

Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi said on Saturday his government was in touch with both Israelis and Palestinians and there were indications they could "soon" reach a truce, but there were no guarantees.

"There are some indications that there could be a ceasefire soon," Morsi said at a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, adding that there were still "no guarantees."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Israel would be held to account for the children among 40 people dead in three days of air strikes on Gaza.

"Everyone must know that sooner or later there will be a holding to account for the massacre of these innocent children killed inhumanely in Gaza," he said in a speech at Cairo University.

Germany is prepared to contribute Patriot missiles to a NATO mission to help Turkey at the border with Syria, the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported Saturday.

The German army would contribute up to 170 soldiers as well as Patriot anti-aircraft missiles to such a NATO mission, the newspaper said.

Egypt and Turkey put the onus on Israel on Saturday to end the fighting around Gaza as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Cairo a day after Washington urged the two governments to pressure the Palestinians.

Erdogan, who headed straight into talks with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi after landing in Cairo, blamed Israel for the latest upsurge in violence.