United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pushed for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas military group in Gaza and warned that a ground attack would become a disaster. While receiving Secretary-General of the Arab League (AL) Nabil al-Arabi in Egypt on Tuesday, Ban expressed sympathy with civilians caught in the conflict and highly appreciated the ongoing efforts of Egypt and AL to achieve the ceasefire. He called for more actions to support the civilians.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at a media conference with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby in Cairo (Photo: Reuters)

Ban Ki-moon arrived in Cairo 2 days ago to call for strengthening peace efforts to yield ceasefire agreement. He will go to Tel Aviv shortly, where he is set to urge the Israeli leadership to respect its obligations under international law. He will also pay an official visit to Palestine and meet with President Mahmoud Abbas.

Meanwhile, Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 33 Palestinian civilians. This has been the most disastrous attack since Tel Aviv launched an offensive on November 14^th. The overall Palestinian death toll has topped 116 over the past seven days and 800 civilians have been injured.