United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon toured Gaza for three hours Tuesday afternoon to "show his solidarity with the people of Gaza" and demanded a full probe into the "outrageous" shelling of United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) facilities.

Later in the day, he was to visit Sderot. He condemned Hamas rocket attacks, but his statement was thoroughly overshadowed by the media entourage in Gaza.

"It has been especially troubling and heartbreaking for me as secretary-general that I couldn't end this [violence] faster," he said. Ban called the crisis in Gaza a "collective political failure" and said he would report his conclusions to President Barack Obama.

The military has stated that the attacks on UN facilities were in response to shooting by terrorists within the building compounds, a claim that UNRWA denies.

As Ban spoke, Hamas claimed "victory" while thousands of the terrorist organization's supporters swarmed outside the heavily damaged Gaza City building that houses the Hamas legislature.

Foreign television crews showed local residents pulling household items out of the debris left behind after the IDF's bombing of Hamas terrorist targets.

Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told Ban Tuesday morning that the international community's efforts to rebuild the economy and society in Gaza must avoid giving Hamas any legitimacy.