Cairo: “We will not go. He has to go.” This slogan, which reverberated across Egypt during a revolt against former president Hosni Mubarak earlier this year, was chanted on Saturday by hundreds of angry Egyptians outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, demanding the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.

“I will not leave this place until the ambassador of the Zionist entity (Israel) is kicked out,” said Mohsin Faraj, a commerce student. “I have been protesting here since Friday to show my anger against this entity (Israel), which heeds no peace treaties and continue to kill our soldiers on the border,” he added.

Over the past two days, hundreds of Egyptians have been protesting outside a building housing the Israeli embassy near the Cairo Nile. Many of them were repulsed by Egyptian army and security troops as they attempted to storm the embassy.

Armoured vehicles were stationed around the building as the numbers of protesters sharply increased on Saturday. Protesters also burnt the Israeli flag as others waved the Egyptian and Palestinian flags.

Earlier in the day, the Egyptian government said it would recall the Egyptian ambassador from Israel until the latter makes an official apology over the killing of five policemen near the border with Israel. In 2000, Egypt recalled its envoy from Tel Aviv in protest against Israel’s use of “excessive force” to quell a Palestinian uprising against its occupation of their territory.

However, the semi-official newspaper Al Ahram quoted on its website what it termed as a well-informed source who said that the Egyptian government’s statement, following an emergency meeting early Saturday, had no mention of recalling Egypt’s ambassador to Tel Aviv.

“The statement only said that the Israeli ambassador in Cairo will be summoned to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry to be notified of an official protest,” Al Ahram quoted the source as saying. There was no immediate comment from the cabinet on the report.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979. But after the ouster of long-standing president Hosni Mubarak, many Egyptians are pushing the military rulers to be firm towards Israel.

”We need a response different from what it used to be before the January 25 revolution so that the Zionists will realise that the blood of the Egyptians has become precious,” said the Freedom and Justice Party, the political arm of Egypt’s influential Muslim Brotherhood.

Mubarak was perceived by many in Egypt as condoning Israeli “violations of Egypt’s sovereignty” and lenient in his reactions.

Some politicians Saturday urged the military rulers to take advantage of the current tensions to push for an amendment to the peace treaty with Israel. “This is a golden chance for Egypt to request the treaty be changed to allow strengthening the Egyptian military presence in Sinai without restrictions,” said presidential hopeful Ayman Nour.