Tel Aviv -United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited the Gaza Strip to examine the humanitarian situation in the blockaded salient on Sunday.
After his visit, the Secretary-General is due to meet with the parents of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held captive in the enclave for the past three-and-a-half years, after being snatched by militants in a cross-border raid.
Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Strip after Shalit was snatched, limiting the amount of goods allowed in.
Ban's visit comes just over one year after the Israeli military launched a fierce offensive against Gaza-based militias who had repeatedly been launching rockets at southern Israel.
Some 1400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in the 22 days of fighting, and thousands of homes and buildings were destroyed, according to human rights organizations.
Ban's visit coincided with another tour to the region by US special envoy George Mitchell, who is due to meet with Israeli officials on Sunday.
Mitchell had been scheduled to visit last week, but his trip was delayed as a result of a lingering Israeli-US dispute sparked by the announcement of new homes being built in an East Jerusalem neighborhood located on the occupied West Bank.
Palestinian anger over the announcement of the new settlements scuttled an agreement to hold indirect peace talks under the aegis of the US.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/315065,un-secretary-general-ban-visits-gaza-strip.html.
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