The Egyptian Foreign Ministry summoned Syrian ambassador to Egypt Youssef al-Ahmed yesterday to express concerns about recent demonstrations outside the Egyptian embassy in Damascus.

Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab Affairs Abdel-Rahman Salaheddin met the Syrian ambassador to express Egypt's worries, the state MENA news agency reported.

Ahmed promised to convey the message to his government, Salaheddin was quoted as saying after the summon.

Earlier reports said the demonstrators in front of the Egyptian embassy in Damascus have criticized the Egyptian stance on the blockade of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas.

On Sunday, Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hosam Zaki said his country is not responsible for tightening the grip on Gaza.

"Egypt absolutely rejects attempts to accuse it of being responsible for tightening the grip on Gaza," Zaki said.

Zaki said Egypt had made great efforts to ease the humanitarian suffering in Gaza, including allowing the entry of some 20,000 Palestinians in the past 10 months and offering shipments of relief stuff and millions of Egyptian pounds to Gazans.