UN Chief describes situation in Gaza as 'heartbreaking'
GAZA: The situation in the Gaza Strip is " heartbreaking," said
visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday, two days after the
end of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip.
Ban told a news conference at the UN headquarters in Gaza City that
he was "deeply grieved" at the scenes he witnessed in Gaza following a
three-week Israeli military offensive.
Describing the situation in Gaza as "heartbreaking," Ban said that he
was "appalled" also at the damage done to the world body's Gaza City
headquarters.
"I'm just appalled. I'm not able to describe how I am feeling at this
sight," he said of the compound, which was struck by several Israeli
army tanks shells late last week when Israeli ground forces entered
deeply into Gaza City.
"I am deeply grieved at what I have seen today," Ban said, promising
that he planned to dispatch a humanitarian assessment team to the Gaza
Strip on Thursday.
"I have condemned on the outbreak of the conflict the excessive use
of force by Israeli forces in Gaza," Ban said, while also viewing
Palestinian militants' rocket attacks at southern Israel as "completely
unacceptable."
He, meanwhile, called for a "full investigation" into civilians
deaths in the war. "The UN will do all we can."
The Palestinian unity "was needed to allow a recovery process and the
opening of Gaza's border crossings," urged the UN chief.
Ban arrived in Gaza on Tuesday afternoon to check the destruction in
the Gaza Strip following 22 days of Israeli military offensive on the
enclave.
His envoy crossed into the Gaza Strip through Erez border crossing
between northern Gaza Strip and Israel, while his UN convoy passed by
areas where seized by the Israeli army ground forces and caused severe
destruction there.
While touring the main UN headquarters in Gaza City, Ban checked the
stores of UNRWA that were struck and destroyed by the Israeli army tanks
shells.
The UN secretary general will tour several places and neighborhoods
were attacked by the Israeli army during the 22-day offensive.
Ban was not received by Hamas leaders or the Hamas authorities that
rule the Gaza Strip. No meetings with Hamas officials were scheduled.
A spokesman for him described Ban's visit as a visit to express
solidarity with the Palestinians' sufferings after a 22-day Israeli
offensive.
Ban is the highest ranking international official to visit the Hamas-controlled
Gaza Strip since Israel and the Islamist Hamas group declared separate
ceasefires on Sunday.
GAZA, Wednesday, Xinhua
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