UN chief warns Israel against ground invasion of Gaza

At a joint press conference with Arab League Secretary-General, Nabil al-Arabi in Cairo on Tuesday, Ban reiterated that a ground invasion against the coastal sliver will be dangerous.

"Further escalating the situation will put the entire region at risk," he added.

The UN chief stressed that the situation in Gaza was alarming and that he would appeal personally to put an end to the ongoing violence there.

    The UN secretary-general also condoled with the families of the victims killed in the recent wave of Israeli attacks -- which started on November 14 -- noting that families and children have been caught in senseless crossfire.


As many as 112 Palestinians have been killed and more than 900 others injured in the intensified Israeli attacks. The Israeli military said on Monday that it had conducted more than 1,350 aerial and sea attacks against Gaza since the beginning of the escalated aggression.

Ban arrived in Cairo on Monday in order to help secure an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire.

The UN chief is scheduled to head to the Occupied Palestinian Territories to hold talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the acting Palestinian Authority Chief, Mahmoud Abbas.

In a Monday meeting, Netanyahu and the Israeli Minister of Military Affairs, Ehud Barak decided to allow diplomatic efforts to continue and wanted to see a 24- to 48-hour-long ceasefire take place before a full cessation of attacks, sources have said.

An Israeli delegation is set to attend a meeting on the proposed ceasefire in Cairo on Tuesday.

The Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas has declared the lifting of Israel’s 2007-present blockade on Gaza and the ending of Tel Aviv’s targeted killings of its leaders as the main demands of the Palestinians for a truce with Tel Aviv.