Egypt's military-backed rulers declared the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohammed Morsi a "terrorist" organization Wednesday, blaming it for a deadly police headquarters bombing already claimed by an al-Qaida-inspired group.

The decision is likely to accelerate a crackdown on the movement that has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, in street clashes and seen thousands imprisoned since Morsi's overthrow by the military in July.

The six energy-rich Arab monarchies of the Gulf are seeking to strengthen ties with China, Gulf Cooperation Council chief Abdullatif al-Zayani said Wednesday after talks with the Chinese foreign minister.

Zayani held talks in Saudi Arabia with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and expressed "GCC interest in bolstering friendship and cooperation ties with China," a GCC statement said.

The Egyptian army said Wednesday it had foiled a plan by Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to attack a strategic security building in North Sinai, where militants have increased activity in recent months.

A member of the movement revealed the plan when the army interrogated him, military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Ali said in a statement.

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees on Wednesday condemned the Israeli demolition of Palestinian structures in the occupied West Bank and called on Israel to "immediately halt" them.

"UNRWA condemns the latest demolitions in the West Bank, which displaced 68 people, the most recent of which occurred on Christmas Eve," spokesman Chris Gunness said.

An al-Qaida-inspired group based in Egypt's Sinai Wednesday claimed a suicide car bombing of a police headquarters north of Cairo that killed 15 people, the deadliest such attack since Mohammed Morsi's overthrow.

The brazen assault underscored the military's challenge to contain Sinai militants who have killed more than 100 soldiers and policemen in a wave of attacks since the army ousted Islamist president Morsi on July 3.

Pope Francis on Wednesday called for humanitarian aid access in Syria and "social harmony" in South Sudan on his first Christmas in the Vatican after months of shaking up the papacy with his humble style and common touch.

Francis also pleaded for divine aid to rescue child soldiers "robbed of their childhood" and for peace in the conflict-torn Central African Republic which he said was "often forgotten and overlooked".

Abbas Khan, the British doctor who died in a Syrian jail in disputed circumstances, will be buried on Thursday, his family said, as they await post-mortem results.

Syria claims Khan, who was arrested last year after traveling to Aleppo to treat wounded civilians, committed suicide. But a British minister has claimed he was "in effect murdered" by the regime.

A 10-day air offensive by Syria's regime against rebel areas of divided Aleppo city and nearby villages has killed more than 400 people, including 117 children, a monitor said Wednesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that by Tuesday night the toll since December 15 from air strikes and a bombing campaign using barrels packed with TNT stood at 410. Also among the dead were 34 women, 30 rebel fighters and nine jihadists.

Attacks, including bombs that exploded in a market near a church in Baghdad, killed at least 44 people across Iraq on Wednesday, officials said.

The bloodletting comes as Iraq suffers its worst violence since 2008, when it was just emerging from a brutal period of sectarian killings.

The United Nations on Tuesday demanded the release of three Egyptian activists jailed for three years for organizing an unauthorized protest, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Human Rights Office said.

The convictions on Sunday are "of great concern", Ravina Shamdasani said, calling for the "immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners detained solely in connection with peaceful protests, unless the authorities have solid evidence (of) recognizable criminal offences."