Global General

UN chief Ban Ki-moon arrives in Gaza

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-21 16:47

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (C) speaks to residents during his visit in the northern Gaza Strip on March 21, 2010. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said that the Israeli closure on the Gaza Strip is useless and unacceptable. [Xinhua]

GAZA - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in the Gaza Strip on Sunday morning in his second visit since Israel ended its military operation in the coastal enclave.

Ban will inspect areas destroyed during Israel's 22-day operation Cast Lead which ended on Jan. 18 last year to see how much has changed since his last visit after the end of the fighting.

After entering through Erez terminal between Gaza and Israel, Ban headed for Jabaliya refugee camp where he will visit homeless people.

Ban has no plan to meet members of the deposed Hamas government which controls the territory.

Israel tightened the blockade on the Gaza Strip after Hamas seized Gaza in June 2007, which hindered the rebuilding of the war- torn strip.

Ban's Middle East tour aims to push for a resumption of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians following his participation in Friday's meeting in Moscow of the Quartet, which groups Russia, the United States, the European Union and the United Nations.