Ban to visit Gaza on truce mission

1. A Hamas security member inspects the destroyed Hamas headquarter in Gaza City. 2. Israeli soldiers take position on Israel's border with the Gaza Strip and 3. Smoke billowing from a site in Gaza following an Israeli air strike yesterday. Israeli called up thousands more reservists for a possible ground war in Gaza strip raising the tension of a regional war. Photo: AFP

UN leader Ban Ki-moon will visit the Gaza war region within days to push for a truce between Israel and Hamas as their conflict veers toward all-out war, officials said Friday.
UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said Ban will go to the region "shortly" to "push for an end to violence" and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said the UN secretary general would visit the Palestinian territories in "two or three days."
Ban will be in Jerusalem on Tuesday or Wednesday, according to UN Diplomats and Israeli media.
"Ban went to the region during the last Israeli offensive against Gaza in 2009 and worked hard to end that conflict. He is looking to produce a truce and ceasefire this time as well," said one senior UN diplomat.
Ban has already spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to urge restraint, while also strongly condemning the rocket attacks from Gaza that Israel blames for its air strikes and its military buildup around the besieged Palestinian territory.
He said Ban was speaking to the leaders of Middle East nations and the major powers "as part of his efforts to call for restraint and push for an end to violence. As part of those efforts, he plans to visit the region shortly."