United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Ban arrived Monday in Cairo on the first leg of a visit with President Mohammed Morsi to assist Egyptian efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza's Hamas terrorist rulers, according to AFP. Morsi met Sunday with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal and the Hamas delegation at the presidential palace in Cairo.
The U.N. leader was scheduled to meet Monday evening with Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamen Amr, and Tuesday with Arab League head Nabil el-Araby.
He is then scheduled to travel to Jerusalem to meet with Israel's prime minister, U.N. diplomats told AFP. “Ban went to the region during the last Israeli offensive against Gaza in 2009 and worked hard to end that conflict. He is looking to produce a truce and ceasefire this time as well,” a senior U.N. diplomat said before Ban left for Cairo.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas told the news agency that Ban also planned to travel to the PA.
Egypt, Qatar and Turkey have been working together to broker an agreement on a ceasefire for the past several days.
However, Gaza terrorist groups have consistently refused to stop their rocket fire on southern Israel. The Israeli government has said it will not consider conditions for any ceasefire agreement until the terrorists first stops firing on its citizens.
On Monday morning, the government warned Hamas it would take its Pillar of Defense counter terror offensive against Gaza to the next level unless the rocket fire being rained on Israeli citizens ceases by Tuesday night.