UN leader Ban Ki-moon will visit Gaza "shortly," his spokesman said Friday and diplomats said that Ban will press Israel and the Palestinians to agree on a truce.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said Ban will go to the Palestinian territories and diplomats said that the UN secretary general will also go to Jerusalem early next week.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)