UN:Israel´s daily 3-hour truces in Gaza good first step, but not nearly enough

Israel cited ending rocket and other arms smuggling by Hamas from Egypt as one of the goals of its military offensive.

Serry added that third parties would need to provide assistance on the ground and in diplomatic support to safeguard all the elements of the ceasefire, including a possible international monitoring force.

"There will need also, and this is very important, to be a massive humanitarian reconstruction and economic revival effort for Gaza and the United Nations intends to be in the forefront of responding to that enormous challenge," he said. "There can be no more Band-Aid solutions for Gaza."

He also stressed that Gaza, where Hamas seized control from the rival Fatah movement in 2007, must be united with the West Bank, governed by Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas, whom he called the "umbrella" under which these efforts should be advanced.

"Only negotiations and a political solution can empower those who want to live side by side with Israel in peace and stem the appeal of violence and radicalism," he said.

President Abbas and Fatah embrace the two-State solution of Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace while Hamas rejects Israel's right to exist.

In other developments, the Security Council on Wednesday continued its high-level meeting on the crisis, with several foreign ministers in attendance, while the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva will hold a special session on Friday, at the request of Egypt, Pakistan and Cuba, to address "the grave violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including the recent aggression in the occupied Gaza Strip."

By press time, the Security Council has once again failed to reach an accord on how to end the Gaza conflict, Council president, the French UN ambassador, said after a closed-door meeting.

UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-general Koichiro Matsuura and UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy on Wednesday also expressed grave concern over the attacks against UNRWA schools and associated facilities set up by the UN as places of refuge for civilians fleeing the fighting in Gaza.

Editor:Zhang Yun