UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday welcomed an initiative by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Ban, addressing an open Security Council meeting on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, said "third parties will need to provide assistance."
The initiative calls for the opening of safe corridors for relief supplies into Gaza, and an invitation to the Israelis and Palestinians to meet to discuss how to avoid a resumption of fighting, including securing borders and lifting the blockade of Gaza, which Israel says Hamas rocket and other attacks have forced it to impose.
"Third parties will need to provide assistance, both on the ground and in terms of diplomatic support, to supervise and safeguard all the various elements of a ceasefire. Gaza's enormous social relief and reconstruction needs will need to be addressed," Ban said, calling on all member states to respond promptly and generously to the UN appeal for funds.
Ban said he plans to visit Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory next week and some other regional capitals as well. "But I do not believe we can wait until then to end the violence. We must achieve that now," he said.
He warned that the Israeli shelling of UN schools where hundreds of Gazans had sought refuge made a ceasefire more urgent than ever.
At least 30 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday after UN schools in Gaza were hit in separate Israeli attacks despite repeated international calls for an immediate end to the ongoing violence and bloodshed.
Mubarak and Sarkozy announced the peace plan at a press conference in Egypt. The peace initiative won immediate support from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who told the Security Council that "despite the violence, we are committed to the peace process."
Also taking the floor at the Security Council meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave U.S. support to the peace initiative, saying "our goal must be the stabilization and normalization of life in Gaza." She also stressed that any peace plan "has to be a solution that does not allow the rearmament of Hamas."
According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and media sources, more than 570 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 2,700 injured since Israel began air strikes against Gaza last month with the declared aim of ending rocket attacks by Hamas militants on its southern towns.
Source:Xinhua
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